The mention of Hiawatha the other day also reminded me of Girl Scouts. On the built-in bookshelf in my bedroom back then was a Girl Scout Handbook – and part of the poem of The Song of Hiawatha was in the handbook – I do not know why, I just knew it was there, and it came in handy when there was a need for something to memorize for the 8th grade English final.
I
started Girl Scouts as a Brownie in grade school. My troop leader was
Mrs. Courneen, one of my Mom's best friends who lived two doors down
from us on Valley Circle Lane and who had a husband – a big redhead
who I with much informality called Tommy and who had a son named
Donny in between Clark and Eric's age. Rita also had two daughters
from a previous marriage who were teenagers and our babysitters when
I was growing up, Kathy and Patty. Mr. and Mrs. Courneen were also
the folks who came to the rescue the day Eric split his lip on the
icicle and I was not sure if it was enough of an emergency to call
Mom at work, so I called the Courneens.
If
truth be told, however, I don't think Mrs. Courneen liked me. One day
at a troop meeting I saw something from my house that had apparently
been borrowed for the meeting, a kids' record player that I have not
previously mentioned in these posts – it only played 78s – I did
not know she had borrowed it, and so I let out, very childishly,
“Hey, are you going to give that back?” And Mrs. C took me aside
and had some very strong words for me – I got the impression from
her words that she had been waiting a long time to share her opinion
of me – no doubt I deserved the lecture, but what lasted forever
was the thought that she did not like me and never would. Even years
later, after I got out of college and sheepishly asked Mrs. C one day
if she could show me the basics of crochet, I couldn't help but feel
like she was merely putting up with me for the sake of her friendship
with my Mom.
Anyway,
Brownies was okay. I had a uniform and I sold Girl Scout cookies door
to door in the neighborhood. People were friendly to me when they
answered their doors – but being a door to door salesperson was
definitely something I would not care to do for a living! We also
went to different campgrounds to spend the weekend occasionally –
Hemlock Ridge which was just up the hill on the way to Chestnut Ridge
– and another place past Eden whose name I don't remember now. One
summer I spent a few days at Green Lake which was off of 277 across
from the country club in Orchard Park – I did not like that – we
slept in tents, and I did not go with any friends and it was not
comfortatble hanging out with strangers. I think we went swimming
there – at Green Lake, but I can't remember anything else except that
one of the girls had the initials MM, and she said everyone called
her M&M like the candy.
When
I got to junior high, I flew up to the junior level in Girl
Scouts. There was a different uniform and a sash to sew all my merit
badges on. I had two leaders, Mrs. Speich who lived in Valley Circle
Lane with her husband and four children, and Mrs. Faulring who lived
on the old 219 in a house with a built-in swimming pool with her
husband – her daughter was grown and married. We met once a week at
the North Boston fire hall. I would walk there and back. One whole
year of Girl Scouts while in junior high there were a couple of the
cool girls who shunned me if I made eye contact with them, and
insulted me if I tried to talk to them - I was uncomfortable enough
to want to quit but not enough to tell my parents why – so I stuck
it out and the next year was a little better.
 |
| The Girl Scout is me - local Parade |
Mrs.
Faulring had another house that was near Zoar Valley, south of the
Town of Boston, nearing Springville. We would spend weekends there
sometimes, sleeping on the living room floor of her big house in
sleeping bags, hiking in the woods on the property, horseback riding
at the nearby stables – it was so beautiful there! When my
daughters and I rode around the area back in 1997 – I could not
find the stables nor the old house – and that made me so sad.
The
biggest trip our Girl Scout troop took, though, has to be the jaunt
to Dearborn, Michigan and Menlo Park – Thomas Edison's lab and
museum! This was the summer of 1966 when I was just 12! We took a big bus there and walked around a lot and learned a
lot. The picture at the beginning of this post is me the morning I left for Michigan – complete
with my uniform and all the badges on my sash that I had up to then.
I remember the picture being taken – I'm standing in what was our
old kitchen of the house on Zimmerman – and my smile is for real! The second picture is from a parade, in 1967 - I think in North Boston - 'way cool!
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20150612 Girl Scouts
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