When I was nine years old the Church began to sponsor a Cub Scouting program for the young boys. Since I was nine, I was in the Bear Den. Mom was our Den Mother. I had lots of fun as a cub scout. Each month there was some type of theme and we spent all month working on that theme and then we would demonstrate what we had learned at the Pack Meeting that was held each month. Some of the theme’s I can remember were Indian Lore, Newspapers, Pull Toys, Indian Writing, Nature, Carving and Painting.
For each rank we had to complete certain requirements and get them signed off by a parent or leader. Mom made sure we advanced and got things passed off. After earning the rank badge like the Bear Badge you could continue to pass things off and earn Arrow Points. I managed to earn all the ranks and a bunch of Arrow Points as well. The ranks were Bobcat, Wolf, Bear, Lion and Webelow. Since I started as a Bear, I never did get the Wolf badge but I earned Bear, Lion and Webelow patches.
One of our favorite things to do was to go on field trips. I can remember various parents helping us with field trips. We went to the Petrified Forest, the Holbrook Tribune office, the Post Office and the County Court House to name a few. We also had lots of craft activities. We built at different times, neckerchief slides from bones, treasure boxes, Indian costumes out of burlap, flags, little hinged dogs that were pull toys and a lot of other things.
We put on lots of skits in the pack meetings and had lots of fun competing with the other dens. I can remember one month when we studied Alaska and we made kayaks with wheels and we had kayak races in the gym using sticks with pads on the ends as paddles. We had all sorts of contests between the dens and had lots of fun.
One of the requirements for one of the arrow points was to learn to make fudge. I excelled at that skill. I memorized the recipe and would make fudge whenever I could convince Mom we needed some fudge. Sometimes on cold winter nights when we were all at home Mom would suggest that I make a batch of fudge. I was always ready to do so. Sometimes the fudge “went to sugar”. I learned that if I beat it while it was still hot, it wouldn’t go to sugar as often. Usually it was all gone before it cooled off. I can still remember the recipe:
2 cups sugar
1 cup evaporated milk
2 tablespoons of butter
2 tablespoon of Karo Syrup
A pinch of salt