A Scout always does his best

Celina's Merl Brookhart at 82 years old is trustworthy, loyal, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent.

He has to be. He's a Boy Scout.

“A few years ago in the Lake Fest parade, they put me in a car that said I was the oldest active Scout in the area. That was pretty nice,” Brookhart said.

For Brookhart, being a Scout was the fulfillment of a childhood dream.

“From the time I was 8 years old I wanted to be a Boy Scout,” he remembers.

His love for all things Scouting began the first time he thumbed through his older brother's Boys' Life magazine, the official magazine of Boy Scouts of America.

“My old aunt gave a subscription of that to my brother. I was 8 years old, and I wanted to be just like the boys in that magazine and do all the things they did. I really wanted to get the chance to go camping,” Brookhart recalls.

But the world at that time was not a good place for boys' dreams to come true.

“At the time, it cost 50 cents a year to be a Boy Scout. The Depression was going on, and we didn't have that kind of money. Think about it,” Brookhart said.

But by the time he was 16, the financial strain had lessened, and he could find the 50 cents annually to join the Scouts.

“I was older when I got to be a Scout, but I still enjoyed it. I got some awards like the Silver Beaver, and I went three times as an adult to the Boy Scout Ranch in New Mexico.”

Brookhart was so happy with the Scouting program that he served as a Scout Master for his three sons as they got older. Twelve years he volunteered in the Coldwater area, and later in Celina.

“My job was working for oil companies, building stations in Ohio, Indiana and Michigan. Monday night was always Scout meeting, so I always made sure I was home on Monday night,” he said.

Even when the days were long and the drive longer, it was important to Brookhart to give his sons the same joy he got from Scouting. “I had three boys and all were Scouts, but no Eagles. I have two girls, too, and they were both Cub Scout leaders,” he said, chuckling.

So what is it about the Scouting that means so much to Brookhart, even after 66 years?

“I don't know that you can put a name to it. I learned a lot. Before Scouting, I couldn't cook on an open fire. After a few years I could cook, and even gave demonstrations. It just taught me a lot, and I had fun along the way.

“I tell people that the only thing I got anymore is what I give away. You can't really put a price on what the Scouts gave me. And if I can help out others in that, it's good.”

He's quick to point out that he's now a registered Scout, if not an active one.

“Sure, if they do things I can do, I try to make it. But that's getting harder and harder to do.”

Yet in his heart, he will always be a Boy Scout.

“I think it's just something that was born in me. I still call myself a Scout,” he said.

And does he still follow the Scout law of being loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent?

“Well, I work at it. Sometimes I do it, but I always work at it,” he said, chuckling.

Like a good Scout young or old, he's always prepared to do his best.