{"id":9264,"date":"2021-06-07T10:10:22","date_gmt":"2021-06-07T14:10:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=9264"},"modified":"2021-09-09T07:03:36","modified_gmt":"2021-09-09T11:03:36","slug":"episode-349-short-pants-to-kilst-38t-rover-crew-circa-1956","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=9264","title":{"rendered":"EPISODE 349 SHORT PANTS TO KILST….38T ROVER CREW CIRCA 1956"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Note\u2026some readers will identify with this story\u2026having done similar things.<\/div>\n
Others will be sorry they were born too late for that carefree life.<\/div>\n

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EPISODE 359     SHORT PANTS TO KILTS….38T ROVER CREW CIRCA 1956<\/p>\n

                    (IN MEMORIAM TO BIG RED STEVENSON WHO WAS ALWAYS WITH US)<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
alan skeoch<\/div>\n
june 2021<\/div>\n

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Oh, how I wish Big Red Stevenson was alive today.  He passed on before I could<\/div>\n
assemble all these pictures of our 38th Boy Scout Rover Crew when we wore<\/div>\n
our short pants, neck scarves and Mountie Hats.  Knee socks with tasselled garters. We were all such good friends<\/div>\n
yet did not show it.  Our friendship was a reflex\u2026.present in our lives as much as a knee joint<\/div>\n
or a lower jaw.  Principled, focussed and proud.  Short pants!  <\/div>\n

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Big Red Stevenson must have taken this picture.  Jim Garde Jr., Alan Skeoch, Don Strathdee<\/div>\n
and Doug Mason\u2026all stroliing down a gravel road of semi-abandoned farms near Van Dorf\u2026.just<\/div>\n
a short distance north of Toronto.  Gone now\u2026was about to become a subdivision in 1956.<\/div>\n

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Those were the days\u2026indeed, those were the years\u2026when we were teen agers<\/div>\n
and proudly Boy Scouts then Rover Scouts.   The years when friendships were formed<\/div>\n
on camping trips organized on whim.  <\/div>\n

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 \u201cLet\u2019s go camping this week end\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cRover uniforms or civillian clothes?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cEtobicoke or Lake Simcoe\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cDriven or should we thumb our way?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cEasier to thumb it.\u201d<\/div>\n

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USING THUMB TO HITCH RIDES ANYWHERE\u2026EASY TO DO IN 1950\u2019S<\/div>\n

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Easy to get rides using the thumb if there were only 2 or 3 of us.<\/div>\n
When the whole Crew went together we needed big time planning.<\/div>\n

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That\u2019s Big Red Stevenosn on my right.  We were heading for Lake <\/div>\n
Simcoe\u2026straight north on Highway 401 \u2026travelling light\u2026no tent,<\/div>\n
no pots, no pans\u2026our plan was to sleep on picnic tables I think\u2026turned out<\/div>\n
not to be a good idea\u2026did that only this one time, never forgot.<\/div>\n

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Those were the 1950\u2019s when we were young.   Most of my close friends were<\/div>\n
members of the 38th Boy Scout Troop and Rover Crew.  We were a little different<\/div>\n
than other Scout Troops in that we were not really badge collectors.  We were not<\/div>\n
into the one upmanship race to see how many little round patches could be sewn<\/div>\n
on our shirts.  Most of the evening Scout and Rover meetings were spent playing<\/div>\n
dodge ball and  hoping not to be hit by Harvey Scott who could really wing the ball.<\/div>\n

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 We lived to go camping.  Any season\u2026even the depths of winter on<\/div>\n
snowshoes we flip-flopped  plodded our way into Nine Mile Lake north of Perry Sound.<\/div>\n

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WE CONVERTED OUR SHORT PANTS FOR KILTS\u2026CAMPBELL OF ARGYLE PATTERN<\/div>\n

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Our leader, Ed Hisson, suggested we become a kilted crew and so<\/div>\n
we managed to do so.  Expensive but worth it.   Picture left to right..<\/div>\n
Ed Hisson,  Jim Garde Jr., Gord Clarke, Ted Christianson, Ross Stevenson,<\/div>\n
Doug Mason.<\/div>\n

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(Ed Hisson as in \u2018listen, listen, Hisson\u2019s pissing\u2019\u2026Ed was a selfless kind<\/div>\n
of man\u2026seemed as young as we were although married with kids of his own.)<\/div>\n

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FIND BIG RED STEVENSON\u2026.SEE HOW MANY TIMES HE APPEARS.<\/div>\n

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I WILL really miss Ross Stevenson. He was such a loyal friend for most of my life.<\/div>\n
It is hard to believe he is gone<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
alan<\/div>\n

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WE sang a lot.   yes, we did.  \u201cWe were rough and ready guys<\/div>\n
                                                 But, oh, how we could harmonize <\/div>\n
                                                 Heart of my heart, I love that melody\u2026.\u201d<\/div>\n
Big Red and many of us joined the Runnymede Presbyterian church choir<\/div>\n
when we were young.   I was booted out by pretending to sing bass and<\/div>\n
telling Mr. Shanahan \u201cmy voice had changed\u201d.  Big Red sang in choirs<\/div>\n
all his life.   He never made a big deal out of it\u2026just joyful expressions.<\/div>\n
HE was still singing when he died.  I remember one song we loved to sing<\/div>\n
on camping trips, a Mills Brothers song.  \u201cUp a Lazy river in the noon day sun<\/div>\n
                                                                  A lazy, lazy river when the work is done\u201d<\/div>\n
(Maybe not the exact words\u2026we changed words sometimes.)    Today I find<\/div>\n
it hard to believe that we sang so much.   <\/div>\n

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Doug Mason was always ready for a challenge.  In this case swimming in a cold river<\/div>\n
around Easter time.  Doug and the rest of us attended the World Scout Jamboree<\/div>\n
in Niagara on The Lake.   Doug outdid himself.  He came home in his pyjama after<\/div>\n
trading all his uniform to American Scouts who admired our RCMP look.<\/div>\n

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Last night I was thinking about the shows we put on to entertain parents of the Scouts and Cubs.  One show<\/div>\n
got out of hand when Ernie Sutcliffe volunteered to demonstrate the Fireman\u2019s Lift which he had just learned<\/div>\n
as a new member of the Metro Police force.  I will hold that story back.   I need to work up my nerve to tell the story.<\/div>\n
Bob Denny (boy in sweater) volunteered to be the patient.  He wished he had not done so.  Story coming tomorrow.<\/div>\n

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We were not aways the wisest of rover crews in Toronto as noted above<\/div>\n
where we took a job to remove a tree.  Incompetent.   yes, for sure.  And<\/div>\n
when a block of wood from the tree broke one of the owners concrete slabs<\/div>\n
he refused to pay us.<\/div>\n

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In this picture we have rushed from the cabin to wash up before breakfast I think.<\/div>\n
Or maybe we wanted drinking water right from the source.<\/div>\n

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Ross Stevenson never missed a camping trip.  In this case it was so cold that<\/div>\n
we were reticent to take off our coats in the cabin.   No, I must be wrong for  we<\/div>\n
are still wearing our snowshoes.   I bought a bottle of Catawba wine for a dollar.<\/div>\n
That was stupid. Disorienting.  I could not tell up from down and went head first into<\/div>\n
snowdrifts only to be hauled out by Big Red.  By this time we were 18 years old and<\/div>\n
really stupid at times.  <\/div>\n
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Marg phoned to let me know that Big Red had died in his sleep.  \u201cJust slipped away.\u201d  Then she turned up with a large bird house Red had<\/div>\n
been building for me.  The wood work was perfect.  A work of art.  No bird will ever sleep in it.  I had no idea Red was<\/div>\n
creating something for me.   He was that kind of person.   Selfless\u2026enjoyed the company of others\u2026giving.  God,<\/div>\n
I miss him.<\/div>\n

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POST SCRIPT<\/div>\n

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MARjorie joined the Rover Crew<\/div>\n

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Amazing how Marjorie fitted in so perfectly.  She liked my friends from the get go.  And they liked her.  <\/div>\n

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When Marjorie became a big part of my life she joined our Rover Crew and all the<\/div>\n
people that were associated with the crew.  Marjorie is 4th from the left in a black dress.<\/div>\n
Red Stevenson back row.  His mom, Mrs. Stevenson second row first person from right.<\/div>\n
She loved to laugh. In my mind I still hear her.  None of us had much money but<\/div>\n
never noticed.  Salt of the earth as the Bible says.  I can say that having never read<\/div>\n
the Bible.<\/div>\n

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<\/div>\n
ALAN SKEOCH<\/div>\n

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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Note\u2026some readers will identify with this story\u2026having done similar things. Others will be sorry they were born too late for that carefree life. EPISODE 359     SHORT PANTS TO KILTS….38T ROVER CREW CIRCA 1956                     (IN MEMORIAM TO BIG RED STEVENSON WHO WAS ALWAYS WITH […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9264\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}