Author: troopboss

Every troop has a Scoutmaster: an adult leader who is responsible for working directly with scouts, providing direction, coaching, and support. They provide youth leaders with the tools and skills they need to run the troop, and they serve as role models and mentors.

This canonical list of Troop 335 scoutmasters was produced from troop records, which had some gaps that were filled from the programs of the 50th and 65th anniversaries as well as recollections of living scouters, in particular for the 1990s and 2000s. The names of our scoutmasters from the first five years of our troop are lost to time, unfortunately.

Troop 335 owes a debt of gratitude to these men who volunteered their time in service of the development of our scouts and the leadership of our troop over the course of the last century.

1930-1931	Daniel Denuyl
1931-1932	Daniel Denuyl
1932-1933	Henry G. Dekay
1933-1934	Henry G. Dekay
1934-1935	Henry G. Dekay
1935-1936	Henry G. Dekay
1936-1937	Carl Hammer
1937-1938	Hammer / Robert C. McWilliams
1938-1939	George W. Sherman Sr. / John L. VanCamp
1939-1940	John P. Girard
1940-1941	John P. Girard
1941-1942	Joseph J. Seale
1942-1943	Seale / W. Richard Kirk
1943-1944	Kirk / John Bullard
1944-1945	Bullard / Val Smith
1945-1946	Paul J. Butz
1946-1947	Paul J. Butz
1947-1948	Paul J. Butz
1948-1949	M. Hunter Smith
1949-1950	M. Hunter Smith
1950-1951	Richard Moody
1951-1952	Robert Peterson
1952-1953	Robert Peterson
1953-1954	Dr. James E. Engler
1954-1955	David S. Yoder
1955-1956	David S. Yoder
1956-1957	David S. Yoder
1957-1958	Howard A. Mickley
1958-1959	Howard A. Mickley
1959-1960	Mickley / Dick Tombaugh
1960-1961	Dick Tombaugh
1961-1962	Dick Tombaugh
1962-1963	Steve Bronson
1963-1964	Steve Bronson
1964-1965	Stephen VanMatre
1965-1966	Stephen VanMatre
1966-1967	Stephen VanMatre
1967-1968	Stephen VanMatre
1968-1969	Stephen VanMatre
1969-1970	James R. Carson
1970-1971	Don Chandler
1971-1972	Don Chandler
1972-1973	Don Chandler
1973-1974	Grant Humbarger / Robert Forester
1974-1975	Robert Foerster
1975-1976	Mark Shirk
1976-1977	Shirk / Jim Anderson
1977-1978	Bob Gray
1978-1979	Bob Gray
1979-1980	Bob Gray
1980-1981	Bob Gray
1981-1982	Bob Gray
1982-1983	Bob Gray
1983-1984	Bob Gray
1984-1985	Bob Gray
1985-1986	Bob Gray
1986-1987	Bob Gray
1987-1988	Bob Gray
1988-1989	Bob Gray
1989-1990	Bob Gray
1990-1991	Bob Gray
1991-1992	Bob Gray
1992-1993	Bob Gray / Martin Burg
1993-1994	Martin Burg
1994-1995	Martin Burg
1995-1996	Martin Burg
1996-1997	Martin Burg
19971998	Martin Burg
1998-1999	Martin Burg
1999-2000	Martin Burg / Bill Hoover
2000-2001	Bill Hoover
2001-2002	Andrew Hurt
2002-2003	Hurt / John Maxwell
2003-2004	Maxwell / Chris Hilgendorf
2004-2005	Chris Hilgendorf
2005-2006	Chris Hilgendorf
2006-2007	Chris Hilgendorf
2007-2008	Chris Hilgendorf
2008-2009	Gregory Potts
2009-2010	Gregory Potts
2010-2011	Sam Midkiff
2011-2012	Sam Midkiff
2012-2013	Darrell Clase
2013-2014	Darrell Clase
2014-2015	Darrell Clase
2015-2016	Pat Jarboe
2016-2017	Pat Jarboe
2017-2018	Pat Jarboe
2018-2019	Pat Jarboe
2019-2020	Richard McClurg
2020-2021	Richard McClurg
2021-2022	Pat Jarboe
2022-2023	Pat Jarboe
2023-2024	Bryan Shaffer
2024-2025	Bryan Shaffer

At our centennial Court of Honor on Monday, we are looking forward to reconnecting with ten of our past scoutmasters. Each will offer a “Scoutmaster Minute” with a few words of wisdom and shared memories of scouting in Troop 335.

This week’s moment in troop history is a great story from Frédéric Ruiz-Ramón, Eagle Scout #44, who trekked to Philmont in 1978. Mr. Ruiz-Ramón settled in Fairfix, Virginia, where he is the CEO of Perscitus International:

“Troop 335 had not organized a trip to Philmont for many years prior to my joining it at age 11. But once I learned about Philmont I very much wanted the challenge and the adventure. So – how go to Philmont if your Boy Scout troop was not going? I learned that I could go as an individual and join others who were doing that too. I and one other Troop 335 scout convinced our parents to let us go.

In 1978, at age 14, he and I flew together to New Mexico and then took a bus to the nearest town to Philmont where we were met by the staff and driven to the ranch. There we joined up with about ½ a dozen other scouts aging in range from 15-17. We were the youngest. Our wise old leader to take us through the two weeks was a ripe old 18 years old and looked a bit like John Denver.

Together we took off and over the course of the adventure got to know one another and bond. It reminds me a bit of those old Hollywood movies where people from all walks of life and backgrounds end up together at boot camp and eventually learn to work with one another and depend on one another.

My most vivid memories of Philmont were my two bear encounters and climbing Mount Baldy at night in order to be at the summit to see the sun rise.

We dutifully put all of our smellable food and toothpaste, etc. in a bear bag every evening and strung the bag up high in the air between two trees. One night a bear decided to go for the bag. We could hear it climbing a tree and lunging at the bag in midair, landing with a grunt and then trying again. The next morning, we went to see if he’d succeeded. Indeed – he had, but apparently then decided there wasn’t anything worth eating and left a torn bag with all its contents strewn around it.

Later that week, I went away from the group to get some privacy to take a poop. I found a clearing in the forest and dutifully dug my little hole and as I was in the midst of going, a baby bear popped out of the woods about 20 yards from me. Uh oh! Where there’s a baby there is a mamma bear that will protect it. Then another baby bear popped out of the woods. Oh no! Then they started to make their way towards me, curious about why this guy was crouching with a bare butt hanging over a hole and likely smelling the results with their keen sense of smell. I knew running wasn’t an option, especially with underwear and pants around my ankles. I figured I would have to curl in a ball and pray for the best. Then Mama Bear came out of the woods. On No!! But she grunted at the little bears and made it clear they were to ignore me and keep moving. She looked at me and just grunted and kept after her cubs. And then they were gone into the woods again. Oof! I made it back to camp after burying my gift to nature and the soil. All excited, I told them what had happened – and – no one believed me. But, I remember as if it were yesterday.

There are many other memories of the trip some day to be told.

Philmont – truly an adventure to remember and treasure.”

We’re looking forward to seeing Frédéric–and everyone–at our centennial Court of Honor at Cary Camp in less than two weeks. (Today is the last day to RSVP!)

The Philmont Scout Ranch is the pinnacle outing for many of our scouts who have travelled to the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of northern New Mexico for 100+ mile backpacking treks in over 140,000 acres of wilderness that has been managed by Scouting America since 1939. While Troop 335 is currently doing shakedown campouts and hikes to prepare for our trek this summer, we revisit memories of some of our past scouts and scouters from their Philmont treks!

“Troop 335 has a well-earned reputation as a High Adventure Troop. In 1992 and 1995 the Troop made trips to the Philmont Scout Ranch in Cimarron, New Mexico. Travel was by Amtrak “Hoosier State” to Chicago and then the “Southwest Chief” to Raton, New Mexico for transfer to the Ranch. Treks covered 12 days of high desert and mountain backpacking, ranging from 70 to 95 miles. Activities ranged from burro wrangling, challenge events and blacksmithing to gold panning. Highlight for all treks was summiting either Mt Baldy or Mt Phillips. The Troop continues to visit Philmont on a 2-3 year cycle.” -David Hall Sr., treks in 1992 & 1995, Silver Beaver

“Philmont was such a positive experience in my life. Summiting Baldy, mountain biking through wooded trails, burro packing, etc. were all memories that will stick with me for the rest of my life. You’ll always have a special connection with the people you go with, and the adventure is immensely rewarding. While you’re there, you’ll be excited for every aspect of the trip, even if your hike is ‘just six more miles.’” – Nathan Garrett, trek in 2019, Eagle Scout #135

“Having the opportunity to hike Philmont with my sons was the best memory of the trek. Looking back of all my time in scouting, this was the highlight as a parent and adult leader. On a lighter note: as we traveled to and from Philmont on the train, we never had to worry about where the boys were because there was an all-female Venture Crew on board with us. Find the girls, and you found the boys.” -Pat Harding, trek in 2005, Assistant Scoutmaster

“The 2022 crew members were encouraged by our Ranger Sam to describe their visits to the latrines using a movie reference. The following are some of the best:

• The Longest Yard
• The Good the Bad and the Ugly
• Pee-wee’s Big Adventure

Bill and Jeremy were adults on the 2019 crew and we had a burro named Carson for several days of the trek. The burro did not like to do what it was told. Bill and Jeremy were both enthusiastically ready to kill the burro and dispose of its body.” -Jay Burgett, treks in 2019 & 2022, Assistant Scoutmaster

“From our Trail Guide: ‘Remember the 4 T’s with on-trail signs:  Don’t Touch, Turn, Trust, or Tinkle.’ About day 3 on the trail, we realized clean up after meals was a lot easier if you licked all items clean prior to washing . We had a serious discussion about making this a new Philmont patch: the ‘Lick-It-Clean ‘ award.  

For my part I want to thank every single person on Philmont Trek 628-K and 628-F: Sam McClurg, Adam Bogue, Joey Agree, Jon Bol, Nathan Jarboe, William Yu, David Breazeale, Ezra, Jack Crossley, Cooper, Kyle Linder, Harrison Shaffer, Clay Presse, Xander Booska, and adults, Richard McClurg, Patrick Bogue, Ken Bol, Ben Breazeale, Jay Burgett, Kevin Presse, Jason Linder.

Sharing every spectacular view, every storm, every starry night, every blister, every meal, every step of the way was a change for me to be who I am today and I am grateful.  I think about you and Philmont often, and it motivates me to be the best I can.” -Pat Jarboe, treks in 2017 & 2022, Scoutmaster

“My takeaway from Philmont was that Urraca Mesa is, in fact, haunted. DO NOT say the words “cat” and “face” in the same sentence or you will enrage the local spirit population… The Thompson brothers will back up the story. Their dad got ambushed by a swarm of hummingbirds shortly before a fierce thunderstorm brought on by a youngster saying the forbidden phrase.” -Orion Furmanski, trek in 1992, Eagle Scout #55

“I have many great memories of my days in Troop 35: a trip to Philmont with the troop, as a counselor at Cary Camp and Camp Buffalo, and the Kit Carson program at Philmont. By far my favorite memory is the 1969 National Jamboree at Lake Farragut, Idaho. It started with a scenic train ride from Chicago and sightseeing at Glacier National Park and the Red River Valley. But the highlight was 43,000 of us gathered on a hillside in front of a “drive-in” movie screen holding candles and watching the moon landing. We had 7 Eagle Scouts from the W.L.H.S. class of 1973 [Wayne Taylor, Brian Wiseman, Andy Gustafson, Chris Sommers, Greg Leatherman, Tom Carson, and Gerry McEntyre].” -Wayne Taylor, Eagle Scout #28

“The Scouts taking me along with them to Philmont was incredible. Getting to watch 8 Scouts (all the minimum age for Philmont) learn to work together and figure things out was my reward for trekking 100+ miles. I have so many incredible memories from that trip, it is just magic. I wish every Scout and every Scouter could have that opportunity. Baldy, [the Tooth of Time], Seger, Pueblano Boys, Spar Pole, Gandalf the mule, Enola Gay the disappearing mule, and more memories than you’d want to hear. But you don’t have to have Philmont memories. Buffalo memories, Cary memories, Wabash Heritage Trail memories, the drive to and from weekly meeting memories can all be special, you just have to me there with your Scout, and really be there.” -Loren Randall, trek in 2012, longtime volunteer and adult leader

Do you have a memory from Philmont that you’d like to contribute? Email it to 100troop335@gmail.com or include it as a comment in our Contact form.

For this week’s moment in troop history, Mr. Hoover returns with a trip report from 1997 in Pennsylvania that included camping, biking, waterwater rafting, and visiting several historic and architectural sites:

Bill Hoover and Dick Fanjoy in 1997 led a 5-day visit to Ohiopyle, Pennsylvania. The crew included Jon, Daniel and David Hoggatt, John Fanjoy, and Sam Hoover.  It’s located in an historically significant region in the Laurel Mountains of southwest Pennsylvania. The highlight of the trip was whitewater rafting on the Youghiogheny River, starting below the waterfall in Ohiopyle State Park.

The “educational” visits included Fort Necessity, Fallingwater, and Kentuck Knob. Fort Necessity is the site of George Washington’s first military action in battle with the Native Americans and British Forces. It occurred on July 3, 1754, one of the earliest battles of the French and Indian War. The fort is located along the National Road, now US Route 40. It provided access to the “west,” across the Allegheny Mountain Chain.

We toured two homes designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Fallingwater is the best-known of all the structures he designed. The living room is cantilevered over a water fall. Kentuck Knob is located on top of a hill known locally by that name. It is representative of his prairie style, not unlike the John and Catherine Christian house “Samara” in West Lafayette.

Our home was the Ohiopyle State Park Campground. Free time was spent cooking delicious meals and preparing lunches to go.  We bicycled 15 miles up the river trail from Ohiopyle and back. The participants agreed that the trip was more than satisfactory for the 9 hour drive there from West Lafayette.

Our centennial event is nearly three weeks away! We’d like to connect with you and invite you to join us on May 26. Reach out using this form and re-connect with Troop 335.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, the French Voyageurs explored many regions in what is now Canada and the United States. They traveled by canoe, trapping and trading furs along water routes such as the Wabash River at trading posts like Fort Ouiatenon.

Paddling, portaging, and living out of your canoe in the backcountry is the focus at Northern Tier, which is one of the four official high adventure bases in Scouting America. This week’s moment in troop history comes from Dave Hall, longtime scouter and supporter of our troop and council.

In 1993, the troop conducted one of its largest ever high adventure trips with 22 adults and youth traveling to the Boundary Waters and Quetico Provincial Park wilderness area.

The 10 day trip included 3 days of driving and 7 days of canoeing starting from the Moose Lake base. One crew stayed in the USA portion and two crews crossed the border into Canada. Some reports had the USA crew straying into Canada due to questionable orienteering skills and no border lines on the lakes.

Highlights included some bear encounters, mishaps with small waterfalls and poor plant identification (poison ivy).

All returned safely with a new appreciation for the original early Voyageurs who explored this wilderness without the advantage of Kevlar canoes and freeze-dried food.

Do you have memories that you’re willing to share about your time in Troop 335? Help us celebrate our 100th birthday and contact us.

Hundreds of scouts have gone on from Troop 335 to accomplish great things in their professional lives and communities. Today we spotlight Brian Rosenthal who earned his Eagle with our troop in 2006 and pursued a career as an investigative journalist, working for major newspapers like the Washington Post, Seattle Times, and Houston Chronicle.

Investigative journalists ask important questions and then perform in-depth research to report the answers, for example, in newspaper articles. Their work often exposes corruption and injustice, and it raises awareness and helps us to understand complex issues in society that would otherwise be unknown. It relies on being curious, doing extensive research, interviewing people, determining facts, and telling a compelling story.

Dogged determination helped him earn Eagle Scout Award, 2020 Pulitzer Prize

For the past eight years, Brian has worked for the New York Times newspaper, which has over 9 million subscribers and is the largest in the United States. Shortly after he moved to New York, he became interested in corruption in the city’s taxi cab business. New drivers were being scammed by people who would help them get taxi licenses in exchange for unfair loans that would leave them in hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt that they couldn’t repay. Brian interviewed over 600 people over the course of a year and half to expose this corruption, and his efforts led to federal investigations and reforms to fix the problem. His reporting was awarded the prestigious Pulitzer Prize in Investigative Reporting in 2020.

Two points of the Scout Oath include a scout’s duty to their country and their duty to others. Investigative journalism plays an important role in strengthening our democracy by informing citizens and holding governments, institutions, and people accountable for their actions.

In an interview with Aaron on Scouting, Brian talked about the impact of scouting on his life and career. “I try to orient my work around trying to serve others by providing accurate information and exposing wrongdoings … I am motivated by the same values that I learned in Scouting.”

Brian will be returning to the Lafayette area to give a talk, Truth & Accountability: Ethics in Journalism, at the YWCA on April 10.

This week’s moment in troop history comes from Bill Hoover, one of our past scoutmasters and a longtime charter organization representative and supporter of local scouting.

The 1998 High Adventure was conducted out of Camp Gorsuch, Great Alaska Council, Chugiak, NE of Anchorage. This was the camp’s trial offering of a high adventure trek. We don’t know if the program was ruled a success and continued. They are offered elsewhere, however.

We joined Scouts and Scouters from several other councils on the ten-day trek. We were divided into two groups based on age, physical fitness, and level of risk aversion. The major differences of their treks were the amount of time spent on glacial travel and repelling into crevasses. We were driven to a trail base leading into the Chugach Mountains. We were truly in a wilderness, not accessible other than by air. Each group was led by a professional guide. The “advanced” group got the oldest and most experienced guide. The other, the “easy-go,” group got a much younger man with a skill level somewhat questionable.

Fortunately, the weather was warm and dry. This caused the grizzly bear population to migrate down to the Sound. Unfortunately, this limited potable water sources to seeps, and runoff near the top of a glacier or snow field. Water in glacial feed streams isn’t potable because of its till content, i.e. ground up rocks. This and how cold the water was, led to no one being willing to bathe. Bear proofing food and smellables was essentially futile because the only trees were short aspen.

The first day the easy-go group hiked far enough to be near the base of a glacier, after crossing a roaring stream using the buddy system. We had to carry everything needed for 10 days, including all food. The meals got a little lean around the eighth day. We cooked on white gas stoves, requiring being lit as little as possible. Each day we hiked near or onto glaciers. The easy-goes packed up enough equipment to be right at the face of a glacier. We set up camp and hiked onto the glacier, avoiding crevasses.  Getting back down was easy by glissading, i.e. sliding on your feet, like skiing. That night we crammed as many of us as possible into each tent. This was necessary because we carried in less than half the tents from base camp. This turned out to be fortuitous.  The wind that night was gale force, causing the tents to roll over, “sleepers” and all.

Climbing mountains to the top of snow fields was a favorite activity. These are the white streaks high up on a mountain side. Their slopes are steep enough to provide sufficient gravity for boots to slip on the surface.

Because food was almost gone we left a day early for the trail head. The guide had a cell phone with him, used to order pizza. This apparently wasn’t unusual because the delivery man had no trouble finding us. Upon returning to Camp Gorsuch the first task was to turn-in the equipment. Most of the tents had to be replaced because of wind damage. The next was a shower. I never knew that a warm shower with soap could be the best thing since __________. Use your imagination to fill-in the blank.

The advanced group spent more time on glacial travel. They learned to avoid crevices, cracks in the ice sheet.  They learned how to rope up, including hard hats, ice axes, and crampons. They saw a crevice from the inside by rappelling into one and safely back up. They summited Calliope Peak in the Symphony Range, and left their names on a rock there. They watched an iceberg calving into Portage Lake. Unlike like the grizzles, some black bears stay in the area, giving the crew the pleasure of watching a black bear wandering through their base camp when the returned one day.

Standing: Dave Hall, Martin Burg, x, Jim Scheider, x, x, C. Briggs, Sam Hoover

Kneeling: x, Bill Hoover, x, x, x, x

X’s: D. Heiss, J. Hirt, M. Dieckman, B. Rillinpeck, B. Pidegon, J. Hoggett, S. Ramsey

Can you help us identify any of the scouts in this photo? Please tag them or contact us!

In the early 1980s, Troop 335 would return year after year to backpack on different sections of the North Country Trail, which stretches for 4,800 miles from North Dakota to Vermont. Thanks to Scoutmaster Bob Gray and his family, many of these trips are well-documented and preserved with photo albums and notes.

During this time, the troop did an exemplary job of assembling trek plans with itineraries, maps, budgets, pack lists, histories and pamphlets, and other rich information about the places they were going.

For this section of the trail in 1984, the troop backpacked and camped in the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore from Munising Falls to Grand Marais. Much of the trail hugged the edge of 200-foot cliffs along Lake Superior with beautiful rock formations and the cold water below.

On the way back, they hiked around Tahquamenon Falls, toured the Soo Locks, and visited the Gerald Ford Museum (he was an Eagle Scout!)

Were you a scout or scouter in Troop 335? We’d like to connect with you and share memories as we prepare for our centennial celebration in May. Contact us!

In recent decades, Troop 335 has called Camp Buffalo home for summer camp. For many years, we would camp during the week of the 4th of July (although not for the last few years) in the Raincrow campsite.

They say that rainy campouts are the most memorable. Many of our current scouts and scouters have never experienced a downpour like we had on June 30, 2021!

In the middle of Wednesday afternoon, around three inches of rain fell in an hour, sending scouts scurrying from their merit badge classes to seek shelter. Remarkably, only one tent got swamped, and the troop was able to recover enough to host our parents later in the evening for family night… although we had to move our dinner from Raincrow to the lodge.

After we dried out on Thursday, our scouts erected a gateway memorializing the Great Raincrow Flood of 2021 and went on to successfully finish their merit badges and our week of summer camp!

Please connect with us and help us to identify and reach out everyone who has participated in our troop in the last century. We also welcome sharing any old photos, uniforms, patches, programs, maps, or other memorabilia from your time as a scout or scouter. Connect with us by filling out this contact form.

On May 21, 1990, our troop celebrated its 65th anniversary with a Court of Honor much like we’re planning for our 100th anniversary coming up in May. The troop and families gathered at St. Andrew’s United Methodist Church, which at that time was located near the high school at 333 Meridian Street.

The troop celebrated two new Eagle scouts, Jeremy Nottingham and David Koller, as well as merit badges, rank advancement, and attendance awards. The ceremony included this terrific synopsis of our troop’s early history:

65th ANNIVERSARY OF TROOP 335

Troop 4 was formed on May 25, 1925, as part of the Lafayette-West Lafayette Council. By 1930 the troop had become so large it was divided into 3 troops, numbered 34, 35, 36 in what was then the Tippecanoe Council. The council became the Harrison Trails Council in 1939. Troop 35 retained that number until 1973 when H.T.C. merged with two other councils to become Sagamore Council. At this time an additional 3 was added, representing the 3rd or Tecumseh District of the council, making it Troop 335.

In the earlier days the troop was sponsored by parents groups and met at Morton School and the old Jr. High School at the corner of Vine and Fowler Streets. In 1960, St. Andrew Church became the sponsoring organization.

During its 65 years, approximately 750 boys have been members. At any one time the membership has ranged from 8 to a high of 90. Those members are or have been literally all over the world and have had a wide variation of occupations. Fifty-four of those members have attained the Rank of Eagle Scout. At least four have died in the service of our country and are represented by the gold stars on our troop flag.

The history of the troop is really the story of the Scouts, Scouters, parents, committee members and their participation in meetings, camp-outs, hikes, merit badges, boards of review, service projects, popcorn sales, paper and can drives, and many other activities. In the past year [1989-1990] there have been 46 troop meetings, 11 campouts totaling 29 nights, 12 service projects plus 3 Eagle projects, 3 hikes, 25 Rank advancements and 81 merit badges earned. The troop earned its 11th consecutive Quality Unit Award and was one of 30 troops in the State to be presented the Troop Excellence Award by the Area president at a ceremony in Indianapolis.

Do you have any past memories to share from your time in Troop 335? Please contact us and help us connect before our troop centennial on May 26!