An uncommon event took place at Lisle’s Hickory Ridge Conference Center on Sunday, Feb. 19.
Under the directorship of chief musician John Gervais the United States Navy Band belted out the strains of our national anthem. Scores of blue and gold helium-filled balloons anchored by decorative centerpieces stood at attention along with more than 280 celebrants during the anthem and presentation of the American flag. Congratulatory letters from no less than President Clinton, Gov. Jim Edgar and Sen. Paul Simon were in prominent view. Official proclamations from the Illinois Senate and the city of Naperville were also displayed.
The occasion was the annual Blue and Gold banquet of Naperville-Lisle Highlands School Cub Scout Pack 66. Mayor Sam Macrane had declared Feb. 19, 1995, to be Highland School Cub Scout Pack 66 Day. State Sen. Chris Lauzen read Senate Resolution 1811, congratulating Pack 66, its leaders and scouts. Rep. Harris Fawell (R-Ill.) was a guest speaker.
Scouts, leaders, parents, siblings and community leaders gathered to watch the ceremony as 5th-grade Webelos (highest-ranking Cub Scouts) advanced to Boy Scouts. Den members renewed acquaintances with one another and honored the efforts of devoted parents, without whom everyone acknowledged none of this could take place.
Mike Connelly was there with his mom, Martha. Mike’s younger brother Chuck was also there, proud of Mike’s membership in Pack 66. Mike received a patch at the banquet, although he might need a new uniform to sew it on. His old one just doesn’t fit anymore. He’s grown some in the last 50 years.
This was Cub Scout Pack 66’s Golden Anniversary banquet, and Mike was one of 32 charter members. Current 4th- and 5th-grade Cub Scouts were able to locate a number of them. Several still live in or around Naperville, but many live as far away as California, Maryland and Victoria, Canada.
There were five charter members at the banquet, representatives from each of the four original dens in Pack 66. Connelly drove in from Indianapolis where he has lived since 1966. Other charter members-Chuck Fischer of Downers Grove, Don Hiltz, Clinton Rife and Rolland Ritzert, all of Naperville-were there. Original den mother Ruth Breitwieser and her son Russell, an early member of Pack 66, both of Naperville, were also present.
Though the former scouts are all around 60 years old and represent careers as diverse as tax law and carpentry, there wasn’t much difference between them and the current scouts. Setting aside appearances (suits and male-pattern baldness versus washable dress pants and Nike cross-trainers) the banter, arms-around-the-neck and back slapping were identical whether scouts were 10 or 60. It looked like bonds made in Scouts are strong indeed.
Ritzert, who still lives in his childhood home, and the others crowded around an old photograph of one of the dens. They laughed and chided one another about the old clothing and scout uniforms. Tables full of Pack 66 memorabilia evoked memories of simpler times when Naperville was a quiet community of 5,000.
Ritzert and twin brother Roger were active in scouting for many years, he said. Both still keep in touch with many former scouting friends. Scouting “taught values in a fun way,” said this owner of a Naperville gravel company.
Carpenter Don Hiltz believes every child should get involved in scouting. It is, he said, an interesting part of life. His own children were scouts. Hiltz said he cherishes most the memories of friends and activities. Although details dim with age, scouting’s overall impression remains powerful, he said.
The banquet was a somewhat bittersweet event for Mike Connelly, a tax attorney who practices in the same law firm as Marilyn Quayle. He said it was wonderful to be reacquainted with old buddies, but he was also a little saddened that his dad, the late Henry J. (Harry) Connelly, could not be present.
The elder Connelly was the founding committee chairman back in 1945, according to the group’s charter. He is remembered fondly by many of Pack 66’s original members. Harry was cubmaster for two years, becoming a Boy Scout leader when Mike advanced.
Mike recalled that scouting became an important part of growing up in the 1940s. Additionally, as the only boy among four sisters (until he was 13, when Chuck was born), it was a good way to bond with his dad. Both father and son remained involved in scouting for several years, said Mike, who eventually became an Eagle Scout.
Originally chartered through Ellsworth Elementary School, Pack 66 was the first Cub Scout pack in Naperville. The Cub Scouts were founded in the United States in 1930, some 20 years after Boy Scouting began. In the mid-’80s Pack 66 moved to the Highlands School, where it now serves both Lisle and Naperville youth. Ellsworth School chartered a new pack in 1988, according to the current Pack 66 cubmaster, Richard Feltes of Lisle.
From its modest beginnings, Pack 66 led the way for an area organization that today serves nearly 3,000 scouts in Naperville, Lisle and Woodridge, according to Feltes. In addition to Pack 66, Naperville has three other Cub Scout packs, including Pack 99 at Ellsworth. Pack 66 has more than 75 members this year, he said. All but one scout attended the banquet.
Sue Sheehan of Naperville, chairwoman of Pack 66 and a den leader, said putting the banquet together had been a full-time job. “It’s one of the larger banquets because we have so many parents involved,” the Naperville resident said. She was pleased that the charter members were present.
“I think it gives the kids a sense of history not only of the Scouts but of the community. They also learned that the values taught today are the same ones taught back then. I know it has given them an idea how important scouting was 50 years ago,” Sheehan said.
At the beginning of preparations to celebrate the pack’s 50th anniversary celebration, Feltes enlisted the help of current Cub Scouts. They earned credit toward a Golden Trefoil Segment (badge), he said, as a result of their work.
Fourth and 5th graders first located, then interviewed and wrote about the pack’s charter members. It was an experience that Brendan Sheehan and the others found rewarding, according to Sue Sheehan. The group’s historic record of original members’ reminiscences was filed with the DuPage Historical Society, Naper Settlement and the Three Fires Scout Center in St. Charles.
Feltes noted the search unfolded “like the plot of a detective story. First you located one (original member). He knew the address of another who knew the address of another and so on.” In all, 25 original members were contacted.
“It was very interesting, not only for the boys but for me as well, to learn what professions everybody went on to,” said Feltes, a commodities analyst. Policemen, attorneys, a college athletic director, tradesmen and postal employees are some of the former scouts’ careers.
“There were three who became ministers. It’s quite a statistic when 10 percent of any group pursues a religious career,” Feltes said.
Brendan Sheehan interviewed Ned Hawbecker. Now a minister in downstate Forsyth, Hawbecker feels “that scouting reinforced the things that were being taught at home and school such as honesty, faithfulness, loyalty and helping others,” Brendan wrote.
Pack 66 charter member Rev. Wilmert Wolf of Valhalla, N.Y., could not attend, but he presented a video invocation at the banquet. He mentioned lessons he learned in scouting about cooperation, honor and building strong relationships. Then he emphasized how much more important those skills are in today’s ever-shrinking world.
Rep. Fawell was at the banquet not only as speaker but also as the supportive grandfather of 4th-grade Webelos Andy Heap. His family gathered around the banquet table like every other family in the room, proud of the young man’s scouting achievements.
During his speech, Fawell quoted a Native American proverb. When he said, “It takes a whole community to raise one child,” the audience murmured in agreement. Certainly, there could be no better example of that philosophy, he said, than in the tradition of American scouting.
Dens, packs and councils could not exist without the selfless dedication of parents and leaders, Fawell said. Indeed, scouting could not exist without the support and cooperation of civic, education and industry leaders.
With letters from the White House and the governor’s mansion, maybe the scouts of Pack 66 learned that at the end of the 20th Century it still takes a whole nation to raise one child.
