by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
“Scouting’s future is bright.”
When author Alvin Townley made the statement Monday to the Rotary Club of Jacksonville, his audience included more than 80 of the 260 members of the North Florida Council Boy Scouts of America Eagle Scout Class of 2009.
They were guests of the club at its annual Eagle Scout Recognition Luncheon.
Townley, an Eagle Scout, attended Washington and Lee University and then worked on Capitol Hill. He has written two books about scouting. The first, 2007’s “Legacy of Honor: The Values and Influences of America’s Eagle Scouts,” was inspired by personal experience.
After achieving the Eagle Scout honor, he said, “I hung my scout uniform in my parents’ closet and then I went to college and forgot about scouting. After I graduated and went to work I began to wonder what it meant to be an Eagle Scout in my mid-20s. I didn’t yet understand scouting’s legacy.”
He traveled the country for a year to meet former scouts and scout leaders. Along the way Townley interviewed, among others, Bill Gates Sr., the father of the founder of Microsoft; businessman and presidential candidate Ross Perot; investor and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg; Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer; and Capt. Jim Lovell, Apollo 13 astronaut.
Townley said he discovered stories of character, courage and inspiration that belong not only to Eagle Scouts but to all Americans.
“Their success wasn’t personal success. They used their success to help others. It made me realize that scouting creates true citizens,” said Townley.
“I began to wonder about my generation and if we would have the same passion for scouting as our parents and grandparents did. What would be the future of scouting?”
Townley then embarked on a quest to meet more Eagle Scouts and learn their stories, a journey that resulted in his second book, “Spirit of Adventure: Eagle Scouts and the Making of America’s Future,” which was published last year.
“The message is adventure and purpose. Whatever you do, make it an adventure. Live with passion and a greater purpose. Life is out there waiting for you, so go out and live it,” Townley advised the Scouts and Rotarians.
This year’s Eagle Scout honoree was lawyer and club member Charlie Towers. He also had advice for the guests in uniform.
“I’m going to ask you scouts to remember two words. Take them from this luncheon and live by them. The words are ‘God first.’ Those are the most precious words that will ever fall on your ears,” said Towers.
Lawyer George Gabel, a club past president, read the names of this year’s class of Eagle Scouts. “The future of our city, our state and our country will be turned over to these young leaders,” he said.
Gabel also noted that the 2009 class marks the fourth year that the number of Eagle Scouts’ names read at the meeting has increased.
Jack Sears, a club member and North Florida Council Boy Scouts of America CEO, said that the local market is not following a current trend in scouting.
“Nationally, scouting has been going through a slight decline,” he said. “But membership in North Florida is up more than four percent in the last two years. I think it’s because the scouting brand plays well in North Florida. It appeals to our sense of family and faith. It’s woven into the fabric of our community.”
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