SEQUIM — Sequim’s oldest scout troop celebrated its 100th anniversary on Saturday.
Scout Troop 90, originally Troop 490 and 1490, hosted a catered dinner in the Sequim Masonic Lodge, 700 S. Fifth Ave. The event was open to past troop members, scout supporters and community members.
Scoutmaster Rene Nadon said it’s rare to find scout troops this old as many either merged or disbanded through the years.
Saturday’s event coincided with Boy Scouts of America’s 115th anniversary in the United States and its official name change to Scouting America.
Troop 490 was formed in 1925 by the Rev. T.W. Bundy in a Sunday school class in the United Methodist Church with nine scouts, according to scouting documents. It switched to Troop 1490 in the 1980s and then Troop 90 in the mid-2000s.
Angus Hay became the troop’s first Eagle Scout, scouting’s highest rank, in 1927, followed by his brother Gordon in 1930. The last scout to earn the Eagle rank was Fred Cameron.
Youngest Eagle
Sequim’s Rick Godfrey, 88, was 13 when he became an Eagle Scout. He was Washington’s youngest scout to achieve the rank in 1950 with Troop 490.
The rank is something Godfrey, a 2023 Sequim Irrigation Festival honored pioneer, is still proud of decades later with pictures, his 42 merit badges and troop banner prominently placed in his office.
“Tradition in scouting has gone a long, long time and started with my father, and it’s carried on with me and my brothers and their kids and their kids,” Godfrey said.
They now have five Eagle Scouts in his family, including a girl, he said.
“Every one of those kids has a lot of drive,” Godfrey said.
Boy Scouts of America allowed girls to join in 2019. Troop 90 does not have a female-equivalent troop as Nadon said they don’t want to defer participants from the lone girl troop in the area, Sequim Troop 7498 at Sequim Elks Lodge.
Godfrey recalled his family’s house and backyard swimming pool on the corner of Second Avenue and Maple Street in Sequim becoming a hub for scouts.
“My father offered to train boy and girl scouts to swim,” he said.
Becoming a lifeguard was one of his major interests, Godfrey said, as he became a certified BSA Lifeguard, with the patch to prove it.
“It was pretty handy,” he said of having a pool in his backyard.
As an adult, he spent 22 years managing factories with the Honeywell Corporation, then became a group vice president for TRW (Thompson Ramo Wooldridge) Corporation. He then started an independent consulting company, Manufacturing Resources, Inc., with his brother David to help companies improve earnings and profit margins.
“I was someone who loved his job and got lucky,” he said. “I never did a job I didn’t like.”
He attributes his tenacity and ability to manage people to scouting.
“It gave me a lot of the basics,” he said.
So far, 93 scouts have earned Eagle Scout through Troop 90. Troop leaders have put each scout’s name on a board, including Godfrey’s. They plan to start a new board for the next 100 years, Nadon said.
Today
The troop currently has 13 boys. It had as many as 41 just prior to COVID-19, Nadon said.
Warren Nichols, a star rank scout, said he started in Cub Scouts at age 8 at his mom’s suggestion to do more social things.
“It’s helped me to get to know other people … and definitely helped me open up,” he said.
Without scouting, Nichols said nature wouldn’t mean as much to him either. He does plan to earn the rank of Eagle Scout, but he said his biggest goal is “to do as many experiences as I can.”
Nadon said Troop 90 tries to ingrain itself in the community through events and service. They’ve helped with every Rally in the Alley event co-hosted by Habitat for Humanity of Clallam County and the city of Sequim, and they’ve helped in various capacities with the Sequim Lavender Festival and Sequim Irrigation Festival.
Parent Mike Pinell said scouting has persevered through a lot in recent years, but they “still have the same goals of prepping youth for life.”
Nadon said the Scout Oath and Scout Law are codes that people use throughout their life. Assistant scoutmaster Ken Smith said scouting is one of the few programs to teach ethics and leadership to young people too.
Pinell said the leadership aspect pays into their lives even if they don’t become Eagle Scouts.
“You spend a week at camp with the kids and there’s not a single phone out and it’s a breath of fresh air,” he said. “It gives you a feeling that the youth are going to be OK.”
Scout leaders said they’re planning to celebrate 100 years of scouting later in the year with a Sequim field day in June, open to other troops.
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Matthew Nash is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. He can be reached by email at matthew.nash@sequimgazette.com.
