Troop History

Boy Scout Troop 208 was first chartered to Saint George Roman Catholic Church in March of 1944. At that time the meetings were being held at the school building on Fridays. At some point in time, the meeting location changed to the Catholic War Veterans Hall on Sharon Street, and the meetings were held on Wednesdays.

The pastor at that time was Father Joseph Doerr, and the Institutional Representative was Father Francis Ott. The first Scoutmaster was Mr. Martin Menzel, and the first Assistant Scoutmaster was Mr. Homer Lander. These two men held their positions in the troop for 8 years. The troop was originally started with 33 scouts, and by 1952 the enrollment had grown to 51 total.

During the majority of the 1950�s the position of Scoutmaster changed as many as 6 times. The names of the men that held the position were: Mr. U.E. Dibble, Mr. John Conway, Mr. Francis Good, Mr. Joseph Ware and Mr. Charles Yochum. In 1959 with previous experience in scouting, Mr. Joseph Linz took on the position that he would hold for many years after.

By the year 1965 the enrollment had swelled to as many as 80 boys. On November 3rd of that same year, Mr. Joe Bickler and Mr. John Groober were the first two scouts of Troop 208 to attain the rank of Eagle Scout.

Memories of that time recount our troop campsite and how it resembled a �tent city.� Logs were lashed together to form posts. Gas lamps hung from each post to light the walkways that divided the tents. There was so much canvas and visqueen suspended, a person could walk from one end of the campsite to the other and never get wet on a rainy day.

Mr. Leo Averbeck Jr. accepted the position as Scoutmaster from Mr. Linz in 1980, after having served as Assistant Scoutmaster for many years under Joe, and holds it currently. With 23 years Mr. Averbeck is the longest tenured Scoutmaster Troop 208 has had. Our troop enjoyed having Mr. Linz stay active as an Assistant Scoutmaster until his death in June of 1998. It is from many of his stories and accounts that we know so much of our rich history.

Our troop celebrated 50 years of service to the surrounding communities in 1994 with a ceremony. Every 25 years of service, the troop retires its American Flag and Troop flag, and starts a new set. The troop retired its flags at that ceremony for the second time. The troop has enjoyed the support of many individuals, families, businesses, community organizations, former scouts and the church over the past 59 years. We wish to thank everyone who has given a part of themselves to the troop to help in molding the youth of tomorrow.