Following the Evening Star 60 Years of the Loquanne Allangwh Lodge #428
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Following the Evening Star 60 years of the Loquanne Allangwh Lodge #428. Celebrating 100 years of the Order of the Arrow Founding of Boy Scouts and the Order of the Arrow W.D. Boyce, a newspaper magnate who was saved in the London fog by a British Boy Scout and taken to Lord Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of Scouting, founded the Boy Scouts of America during the Progressive Era. In the United States, Boyce combined Baden-Powell’s military and chivalric Scouting for Boys with Ernest Thompson Seton’s Woodcraft Indians and Daniel Carter Beard’s Sons of Daniel Boone including American Indian crafts and pioneer skills into the Boy Scouts of America. The American Scouting movement officially began in 1910 and received a Congressional Charter in 1916. E. Urner Goodman and Carroll A. Edson founded the Order of the Arrow at the Treasurer Island Scout Reservation near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1915. Goodman and Edson agreed that the Scouting program should exemplify the Scout Oath and Law not only Scoutcraft skills. The Order of the Arrow would use the crafts and dress of the American Indian to reach this goal. Nearly one hundred years later, the Order of the Arrow continues to serve local councils and camps acMorriss the United States. Boy Scouting in Northeast Texas and Southeast Oklahoma The Boy Scouts of America reached the four states region of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana almost as soon as it was founded. Various churches and civic organizations chartered the earliest Boy Scout troops and the Scoutmasters dealt directly with the National Office in New York City for charters, uniforms and advancement materials. In 1919, the Paris Area Council expanded to cover the entire Scouting Program in all of Lamar County forming the Lamar County Council led by Scout Executive, Frank Fuller. In 1928, the council stretched to serve the City of Commerce and the counties of Delta, Fannin, Franklin, Hopkins, Titus, Red River, and Morris. The new council was called the Lone Star Area Council. In 1930, the Kiamichi Area Council of Oklahoma disbanded and the Pushmataha and Choctaw Counties of Eastern Oklahoma joined the Lone Star Area Council. In 1944, McCurtain County, Oklahoma and Camp County, Texas were transferred from the Caddo Area Council based in Texarkana, Texas. In 1955, the board chose to change the name of the Lone Star Area Council in order to better represent the counties in both Texas and Oklahoma. That year the council was named the NeTseO Trails Council effectively representing North East Texas and South East Oklahoma and the various American Indian and pioneer trails that stretched acMorriss the area. The NeTseO Trails Council exists still representing the Boy Scouts of the City of Commerce and the Texas counties of Camp, Delta, Fannin, Franklin, Hopkins, Morris, Red River, Titus and the Oklahoma counties of Choctaw, McCurtain, and Pushmataha. The council operates a Cub Scout, Boy Scout, and the Venturer/Explorer Program; owns F.H. Dierks Scout Camp near Wright City, Oklahoma and Hogue’s Landing Cub Scout Camp near Powderly, Texas. The Order of the Arrow Lodge, Loquanne Allangwh Lodge 428, was organized in 1950. The Order of the Arrow Grows In Texas and Oklahoma The founding of Loquanne Allangwh Lodge 428 occurred 35 years after the formation of the Order of the Arrow by E. Urner Goodman and Carroll A. Edson. Frank Fuller, Lone Star Area Council Scout Executive, did not want the program in the council. Meanwhile, Scouts in nearby councils were organizing various Order of the Arrow lodges. The Okiciyapi Lodge 56 of the Texoma Valley Council was founded in 1930 with the Thunderbird as its totem. The Tonkawa Lodge 72 was founded in the East Texas Area Council in 1934 with the Hand Clasp as its totem; it would later change its name to the Tejas Lodge 72. Three years later, Mikanakwa Lodge 101 was organized in the Circle 10 Council with the Owl as the totem. Then, in 1943 Scouts of the Caddo Area Council founded the Akela Wahinapay Lodge 232 with the Water Bottle as its totem. To the north, the Oskihoma Lodge 320 was formed in 1945. The Lone Star Area Council was surrounded in all directions by Order of the Arrow lodges by the time Fuller retired in the 1950’s. Boy Scouts in the Lone Star Area Council wanted more and its neighboring lodges would help it along the way. Ross Morriss and Loquanne Allangwh In the late 1940’s, Ross Morriss was a Boy Scout from Texarkana. In the summers, his troop would travel to Camp Pioneer near Mena, Arkansas for summer camp. One year, he was “tapped out” or called to join the Order of the Arrow. Morriss enjoyed the Order of the Arrow and was very active in the Akela Wahinapay Lodge 232. In 1949, he earned the rank of Eagle Scout before moving to Mount Pleasant, Texas with his family. Morriss joined a local Boy Scout troop but was the only Order of the Arrow member in the council. A lodge did not exist yet in the Lone Star Area Council because the Scout Executive, Frank Fuller, did not want the program in the council. Once Fuller retired though, Scouts began to ask about forming an Order of the Arrow Lodge there. Scoutmasters knew that the Order of the Arrow was beneficial to the council and their Scouts. They also knew Morriss was already a member of the Brotherhood so they asked him to help organize a lodge. Morriss travelled all over the council raising interest in the program. Once Morriss had enough prospective members, he took Bryan Sparks, Gene Danner, Jim Danner, Charles King, Ray Haywood, Robert Grove, Austin Skinner, R.P. Woodby, Jud Jones, and Mack Love to Camp Wisdom to stand the Ordeal held by Mikanakwa Lodge 101 in August 1949. Morriss quickly applied to the National Lodge for a local charter. He chose the Evening Star for the lodge totem as it had hung over the Ordeal Ceremonies that first time and because the council was the Lone Star Area Council. The lodge was therefore named Loquanne Allangwh (LO-gwa-nee Al-ain-gwh), Lenne Lenape for the Evening Star. The lodge officially chartered in 1950 and held the first Ordeal at Camp Clark near Paris that summer with a candidate from every troop in the council. The following Brothers were inducted into the Order of the Arrow on this in August 1950: Charles Richardson, Lake Creek George Cox, Commerce Joe W. Bills, Howland Bill Kendrick, Antlers John Wood, Bonham Richard Carpenter, Sulphur Springs Church Arledge, Bonham Isham Jones, Sulphur Springs Gary Long, Bonham Heward Griggs, Sulphur Springs L.F. Massey, Bonham William McDowell, Sulphur Springs Joe Dillard, Bonham Paul Norwood, Idabel John F. Arledge, Bonham Randy Kuykendall, Idabel David Butler, Bonham Bill Kilgore, Idabel Orville Franklin, Bonham Earl W. Hendrix, Idabel John Day, Bonham W. D. Taylor, Idabel Carl Holton, Hugo Dan Adams, Cooper John Griffin, Hugo Jerry Wright, Cooper Bill Caldwell, Hugo Kendall Wright, Cooper Bob Harrison, Hugo Morris L. White, Pecan Gap Marlin Sanderson, Hugo Claude Alexander, Mt. Pleasant Jerry Dancer, Hugo Augie Campbell, Mt. Pleasant Terry Lenrd, Hugo Charles Robison, Mt. Pleasant Frank Bear, Hugo Harlon Worsham, Mt. Pleasant Robert Scott, Hugo J. Walton Skinner, Paris Dan Davis, Hugo Hampy Hodges, Paris Ed Wallace, Hugo Calvin Thompson, Hugo Bob McKenzie, Commerce The first Lodge Executive Council was elected that summer. It was composed of Ross Morriss, Lodge Chief, Mt. Pleasant; Dan Davis, Vice Chief, Hugo; Robert Grove, Scribe, Commerce; Jim Danner, Lodge Adviser, Bonham and Mack Love, Paris, Staff Adviser. Soon after the Ordeal, Morriss attended the 2nd National Order of the Arrow Conference at Indiana University celebrating the 35th anniversary of the Order of the Arrow with the Brothers of the Akela Wahinapey Lodge 232. The summer camp of 1951 at Camp Clark presented members of the Lodge an opportunity to meet and develop the first lodge patch. The Lodge elected Morriss to Lodge Chief for another year that Fall. The Lodge Officers of 1952 were William McDowell, Vice-Chief, Sulphur Springs; Hampy Hodges, Scribe, Paris; Gary Long, Treasurer, Bonham; R.P. Woodby, Ordeal Chairman, Delmar; Lodge Advisor was again Jim Danner of Bonham. That summer W.M. McNeely, Bill Harper, Tom McConnell, and Jan Parnell of Sulphur Springs; Jim Busby and Marvin Biggerstaff of Commerce; Ross Morriss and Reggie McDonough of Mt. Pleasant; Jimmy Hunt of Talco; Jerry Wright of Cooper; R.P. Woodby of Lake Creek; Wallace Emerson of Sulphur Bluff; Jerry Palmer of Ponca City; Robert Wilson, Robert Young and Herbert Westmoreland of Idabel all attended the 3rd National Order of the Arrow Conference at Miami University in Cincinnati, Ohio during August. That year Morris was honored with being the first Brother of the Loquanne Allangwh Lodge 428 to receive the Vigil Honor. Not long after Gene and Jim Danner were selected as Vigil Honor members. This year the Lodge started the Flintrock Newsletter for its membership. In the Fall of 1952 the Brothers of Loquanne Allangwh 428 elected Tom McConnell of Sulphur Springs, Lodge Chief; Jackie Gilmore of Hugo, Vice Chief; James Busby of Commerce, Vice Chief; Fred Fuston of Paris, Secretary; William McNeely of Mt. Pleasant, editor of the Flintrock; and Isham Jones from Sulphur Springs was Lodge Advisor for the 1953 Lodge Executive Committee. In 1954, Lodge Officers were Johnny Simmons of Paris, Lodge Chief; Robert Wilson of Idabel, Vice Chief; Reggie McDonnough of Mt. Vernon, Vice Chief; Wallace Emerson of Sulphur Bluff, Vice Chief; Jimmy Wiggins, Scribe; William McNeely of Sulphur Springs, Editor of the Flintrock; Frat Davis of Sulphur Springs, assistant editor; Bob Cox of Paris was Lodge Advisor.