Jack Wallinger, Scoutmaster Troop 125
Photo by Bill Quist, about 1959
July, 1916-1918: Troop 24 Scoutmaster Percy Frazier, Sr.:
The initial charter we have was dated March, 1917 shows that a troop started March, 1916 at the Woodland Park Presbyterian Church. The Troop number is not on the charter.
Church meeting minutes show that they could not find a scoutmaster for their troop from March to July, 1916. They then got a scoutmaster, Percy Frazier, a man who had led a scout troop in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He was a Presbyterian and probably attended Woodland Park Presbyterian Church.
Percy Frazier, Helena Independent 1938
Percy Frazier, Sr. . Scoutmaster Troop 24, 1916-18, Woodland Park Presbyterian Church. This was the beginning of his 25 year career as a Scout leader and professional scouter. He became a Scout Professional in Seattle, Washington and Wallace, Idaho; Missoula, Montana; Butte, Montana. He was a Ranger Explorer. Born 1884, Illinois; married Margaret, had son Percy born 1911; retired 1942, Butte, Montana; died 1976, Missoula, Montana. When he retired after 25 years at Butte, he and his wife planned to move back to Seattle.
Percy Frazier in 1916 lived at 318 North 74th Street. His occupation was listed in the city directory as salesman for Swift and Company.
In the initial charter the Troop had ten scouts, then eleven scouts joined, and six scouts dropped. Fifteen scouts were active at the end of January, 1917.
According to the Seattle Times, this was Troop 24 (there were only Troops 1-48 in 1916).
A Times Article on April 21, 1918, listed scouts who had received medals for war service (such as bond sales). Troop 24: Percy Frazier, Lewis Ogle, Henry Poincet, Charles R Wells, Frank Wedill, James Wilson and Fred Nystrom (all were names on the March 1917 charter). Also on the list were newer Troop 24 scouts: George Fulsom, George Nickell, Lecil C Miller, Robert Bushell, Eugene Thorpe.
March 25, 1938, the Seattle Times announced the 20th anniversary charter had been given to two troops, Troop 44 and Troop 125. That means Troop 125 was probably organized in 1917, and first chartered March, 1918. Troop 24 lasted until after WWI, about 1919-1920.
1918-1921: Troop 125 and 24 Scoutmaster: Lewis Frederick Andrews; born 1877, Wisconsin; real estate dealer, carpenter; died 1968, Puyallup. No spouse or children.
1921-1922 Troop 125 Scoutmaster William Arthur Marzolf: born 1891, Chicago, Illinois; married, 1927, Seattle; died 1968, Seattle. Real Estate Salesman working for Henry Broderick, Inc., Broadway Realty. Trip leader and photographer in The Mountaineers (1915). Handball tournament player.
1922 (temporary) Clark Elbert Schurman Scout Field Executive. He was in 1922 scoutmaster of Troop 65, 214, and 280. He left for four weeks to start Scouting in Juneau in May, 1922, so he was probably Troop 125 Scoutmaster starting Jan 8, 1917 unil before May when he was able to secure a new Scoutmaster.
Passport photo, 1920
Born 1882, Beloit, Wisconsin; married 1908 Beloit, Wisconsin; died Urbana, Illinois, 1955. Advertising man, Michigan. Editor: Scouting Magazine, New York City. Scout Field Executive, Detroit and Seattle. Drafted into the World War I Army in 1918. Artist, Poet, Writer, Chief Guide Rainier National Park Company, Scoutmaster of West Seattle Troop 65, Designed Camp Long’s Schurman Rock (1938-39 world’s first artificial climbing structure), Camp Schurman at Mount Rainier named for him (built 1962), and he was Director of Camp Long. Silver Beaver award. He attended the first World Scout Jamboree in London, England (his demonstration group received top world honors).
Active member of The Mountaineers and helped start the climing group (training class).
According to some of his old scouts he sometimes disciplined boys by cutting the Scout emblems off their shirts (Seattle Times, Nov., 2006).
“With his rather brusque military manner and appearance, Clark Schurman reminded me of General John Pershing, famed leader of the American Expeditionary Forces during World War I. Several of Schurman’s guides were recruited from his Seattle Scout Troop 65, and they were accustomed to addressing him as “Mr. Schurman,” and responding with “Yes, Sir” and “No, Sir” to his requests in the Guide House. But he also hired a few teachers and college professors, and some of them quietly balked at playing the subservient role in this manner. Yet beneath Schurman’s stern surface I found a kindred artistic soul. He had taken a chance and given me the opportunity to enter the world of real mountaineering, and I had no problem treating him with respect.
Schurman's favorite poem (1939):
Last campfires never die,
And you and I on separate ways
to Life’s December,
Will dream by this last fire,
and have This Mountain to remember.” Dee Molenaar 2006
1922: Robert O Baldwin: born in Washington, 1888; married 1911; died 1959, Portland, Clackamas County, Oregon; stationary salesman. 1925 moved to Honolulu, later went to Portland.
1923: Charles Richard Wells: born in England, 1902; came to US in 1910, charter member Troop 24, predecessor of Troop 125, in 1916. 6532 -1st Ave NW, Seattle (1930) married 1922, daughter 1925, son 1928; died 1968 Tacoma, Washington (1930 he was a commercial traveler, selling dry goods.)
1924: Rene Louis Bugnon: born 1895 Great Barrington, Massachusetts; married 1919 Manhattan, New York; died 1978 Seattle. (His father, Paul L. Bugnon, was a charter member of Woodland Park Presbyterian Church, and was born in France, and moved from Great Barrington, Massachusetts to Seattle in 1906.) Rene and his wife moved to Seattle in 1920. Member of the Exchange Club of Seattle. He was a veteran of World War I, Corporal in the Army, served in France, and owned the Northgate Printing Shop.
1927-1929 Clarence Lee Hammons, born 1885 Shouns, Tennessee; married; and died 1956, Seattle. Safety Engineer, Statistician; accident investigator: Seattle Transit. Woodland Park Presbyterian Church member and Sabbath School Superintendent.
Clarence Hammons, 1927
His son Ray Hammons’s patrol made the Troop knotboard in his basement. In 1929 Ray drowned in Echo Lake.
1929-1931 Joseph Winston, born 1887, Nanticoke, Pennsylvania, married Olga A. in 1910, died 1948, age 61.
He was brought to Seattle as a baby in 1888. Later his family moved to Orilla, near Renton, where she spent most of his childhood. In 1906 he returned to Seattle and was a bank teller at the National Bank of Commerce until 1918. He joined Kelly-Clarke, merchandise broker, as an office manager. He later became secretary-treasurer and at the time of his death he was a partner in charge of partnership accounting. He was a member and treasurer of Woodland Park Presbyterian Church. He lived near the church. When he died the newspaper said that he had an estate of $100,000 (this would be about $1,000,000 in today's money).
He drove the scouts to camp trips in his model T truck; it had no top to stop the rain. He had two sons Rodney and Bruce, who were Eagle Scouts. Bruce had a career as a Scout Executive.
1932-1933 Ray Novak, born 1902, Chicago, Illinois, married, died 1966 Seattle. Came to Seattle in 1928. Pipefitter, Oil company. Member of Building Service Employees Union. He was assistant building superintendant of the General Insurance Company building. .He joined Woodland Park Presbyterian in 1933.
1933-1938 Bruce William Roberts, born 1882 Carthage, Missouri; 1912 marriage Portland, Oregon; died 1968 Seattle. Electrical Engineer. Memeber of the choir of Woodland Park Presbyterian Church, and he was an elder. . No children. Photo from 1963.
1938-1939 George Etsell, Sr., born 1894 Bayview, Wisconsin; married; died 1969 Seattle. Reared at Brinnon, Jefferson County. He was a 1914 graduate of Queen Anne High School. He attended University of Washington and Oregon Agricultural College. He was one of three founders of Issaquah Creamery (sold to Dairygold). He first worked as a dairy chemist, then for his last thirty years as a real estate broker.
1940-1943 Arthur H Taylor, born 1900 Illinois; married 1922; died 1989 Seattle. Salesman. (His father David Taylor was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, and he came to the US in 1891, coming to Seattle in 1908.)
1944: Stuart L. Morrison, born 1909, Washington; married 1928, King County, Washington; died 1968 Seattle. Telephone lineman. Boating enthusiast.
1945: Frank V Loewe, Jr. born 1917, Washington, died 1976, Edmonds, Washington.
He was disabled but was able to earn his Eagle badge in 1939 in Troop 125 (He said he was born the same year, 1917, that Troop 125 was formed.). He stepped in to help out during the War, to help keep the Troop running, until others returned to Seattle. Later he worked for the FAA in Alaska.
Frank Loewe 1934 Lincoln High Yearbook
1946-1948: Maynard Carver Falconer. Birth: 1905 Tacoma, Washington, married: about 1922 and 1969 Contra Costa, California; death: 1988 – Marin County, California. Engineer.
1949-1950: Robert Richard Ripley: born: about 1911, Minnesota; married 1933, Seattle; died, 1960, Seattle.
1950: Manley Miles Morse: born 1900, Michigan; married Chicago; married 1940, Vancouver, Washington; died 1989, San Bernadino, California. Sheetmetal worker
1951-1955 John J. “Jack” Wallinger: born 1910, Canada; naturalized US Citizen, 1921; married 1935 Seattle; died 1985 Seattle. Grocery clerk, Milkman. Silver Beaver award. (See photo above).
1955-1957 Harry E Arvon: born 1909, Seattle; married ; died 1994 Redmond, Washington. Silver Beaver 1957
1957-1964 Jack Wallinger, see above
1964-1970 Richard "Dick","Jay" Carl Jonasson, born 1938, prob. Seattle; married 1967, Seattle. Living in a Minneapolis in a Minnesota Veterans Community and volunteering at North Star Scouting Museum, Saint Paul.
Richard Jonasson 1966 Seattle Times
"Jay" Jonasson went to John B. Allen elementary school and was in Scouting in the 1950's in Troop 118 as a Life Scout. Jay says their troop motto was "it is really keen to be in 118". After high school he enlisted in the Navy and served four years, a little over two years in Hawaii. He signed up to be Assistant Scoutmaster of Troop 121 in the Naval Air Station in Barbers Point, Hawaii. In 1964, after leaving the Navy he became Scoutmaster of Troop 125 until 1970. During that time the troop celebrated its 50th Anniversary in 1966.
In 1967 he and four Scouts drove his VW Bus to Idaho to attend the World Jamboree. They did not have enough money to camp at the official Jamboree site so they camped on a roadside nearby and shared the site with a small Canadian Troop that also was short of money. He said that at that time he really learned the meaning of the Brotherhood of Scouting.
He was Scoutmaster of Troop 120 in Fremont, from 1970 until 1988. Then he served in another Troop in Darrington, and served again in New York State, where he had moved to be closer to his sister.
He worked most of his life as a licensed steam plant operator operating heating plants at a Seattle hospital and at a logging company. Due to a series of strokes in 2004 that limited his mobility, he moved to Minneapolis to the Minnesota Veterans Home to be closer to his brother, who lives in that area.
Although confined to a wheel chair, he manages to come to the North Star Museum of Boy and Girl Scouting every Thursday morning after a long bus ride from Saint Paul via the Metro Mobility Bus. He works on the patch identification project for three hours each Thursday and has only missed coming once or twice in the past year. Before leaving he eats lunch with the Director and Volunteer Team Leader then, about 1:30 pm, it is back on the mobility bus for another one hour ride to the Vets home.
Jay commented that he really enjoys his work and seeing the wide variety of patches along with the neat colors and designs that seem to be unique to the region. He added that the fellowship of working with other Scouters is very important to him and that he really enjoys the company of the lady Director.
His brother Gordon says that he is suffering from dementia now.
[source: adapted from North Star Museum News, April, 2009, Volunteer corner. by Gary Gorman, Volunteer Team Leader]
1970-1976 John S. Hartt, born 1928 Centralia; married 1951 King County; Member of Woodland Park Presbyterian Church. Construction foreman. He had a stroke in 1991 and it limited his mobility and speech. He and his wife Peggy lived in Ida Culver retirement apartments, in the Broadview area of Seattle. He passed away July 4, 2013. His wife died in March, 2013.
John Hartt about 1996
1976-1980 Donald Edward Sigmen: born 1935; married 1966 King County. Living in Seattle.
1980-1981 Peter Charles Poorman, born 1955, married, living in Federal Way.
1981 Bob Smith
1981-1983 Peter Charles Poorman, see above
1984 Kenneth B. Shotwell, D.C.: born 1952, chiropractor; married; Living in Arlington.
Kenneth B Shotwell from his office website 2010
1985 Samuel M. Spitzbart, Troop 125 Eagle Scout 1978, born 1959, married, lives in Bellevue.
1985 Eric Madsen, born about 1952, married, living in Lynnwood.
1985 Jerry Adams
1986-88 George W. Grantham. Born 1942, Seattle; married in Borneo; Living in Lake Forrest Park. Peace Corps Volunteer, Social Worker
George Grantham 1989
1989 Katherine Busch
1989-1992 Mark Steelquist, Scout Executive, Eagle Scout. (Scoutmaster Troop 123, 2009-2010.) born 1959, married. Living in North Seattle. Director of Treemendous of Seattle.
Mark Steelquist 2010 from Troop 123 website
1992-1996 Miles G. Logsdon, born 1953, married. Living in North Seattle. Senior Lecturer, School of Oceanography College of Ocean and Fishery Sciences, University of Washington.
Miles Logsdon, piloting a plane, 2010, from his web page
1996-1999 Fred Maslan, born 1946, married. Living in North Seattle.
1999-2002 Steve Swicord, married, lives in Ballard, Seattle.
2002-2005 Ted Hopkins, Lives in Sacramento, California.
2005-2008 Jay Babcock; 1983 Troop 125 Eagle Scout; Seattle Firefighter,
Naval Reservist (overseas active duty: 2008). Lives in Everett.
Jay Babcock, 2005
2008-2009 Antonio Ruffin; lives in Ballard, Seattle.
ES2009-2011 Eric Vegors, living in Seattle.
2011-2013 Eric Linden, living in Seattle.
2013-Present Eric Vegors, living in Seattle
Gordon, Dick Jonasson is living at the Minnesota Veterans Community in Minneapolis. He does volunteer work for the Boy Scout Museum there. I was one of Dick's scouts in Troop 125 and he became a life long friend. I have his address and phone number if you would be interested.
ReplyDeleteLorin Koch
Yes please. Gordon
ReplyDeleteI was Mr J (Dick Jonasson) while he was Scoutmaster of T120 and Webelos leader of P122 in Fremont at St Paul's Lutheran Church. We were with him thru the accusation period also. the troop folded and the boys went to different troops in the district. Mine ended up at T123 out of Whitman middle school under Bud Carlisle. I lost track of Mr J after he moved to Darrington. If you could provide me with an address I could reconnect. I doubt that J has ever touched a computer! LOL! Does he still have his car and frig and stuff? Miss his hugs... My email is pgudgel@gmail.com.
ReplyDeleteThank you
Penny (Emmerson) Gudgel
I knew Dick Jonasson in Grade School. I'm curious about the "accusation period," and the Troop's folding. jwmclarke527@gmail.com
DeleteAlso, I later joined Troop 125. Was this a gay issue. As a gay man, I would like to know.
DeleteI have been trying to locate Mr J for DECADES!!!
ReplyDeleteI joined the Scouts in 1962 at Barber's Point NAS Troop 121, and Mr J was my first Scoutmaster. I am proud to say that I eventually (through a train of circumstances I won't go in to here) became the Scoutmaster of Troop 121 at BPNAS in 1980... The Troop was down to a single patrol by then, and I assume that it folded when I left Hawai'i in 1981. Mr J probably ranks 2nd only to my father in the influence he had on the man I became.
The last time I saw Mr J was in 1977, when I took a month off from the Army to drive across the nation to visit places I had lived and people I had known. My father was a career Soldier (which was why I was in Hawai'i in the first place) and the list of places I had lived was NOT short! I managed to arrive at his Wallingford Avenue North home just as he was leaving on a trip - afraid I ruined a vacation.
The occasional letter mailed in the 1980's was either returned or evaporated. In 1991, just before I retired from the Army, I managed to wrangle a TDY trip to Fort Lewis that gave me time to drive up to Seattle. He was gone, and nobody remembered him. Hard to believe - his green Model A Ford with yellow pinstripe and large brass 1st Class Scout radiator cap were hard to miss. I still have a picture of me spinning the hand crank on it!
Anyway, I spent some time with phone books looking for him but eventually gave up. Periodically, as technology improved, I looked, but to no avail.
He knew that I achieved Eagle rank, and he knew that I was stationed at the Pentagon in 1977, but he never knew that I became Scoutmaster of Troop 121, and he never knew that I received a commission and retired from the Army 1 rank below my father.
Anybody who can put me in touch with Mr J... well, I can not express what that would mean to me.
I am Chief251A@yahoo.com. I have been planning a trip up north in the fall (I live near a place called Holopaw in Florida) to Mansfield Ohio (wife's family home) and Battle Creek (mother's family home) and Indianapolis (the Army sent me to 5 separate schools there!)... and I still have a friend near Mille Lacs in Minnisotta. It would mean the world to me if I could see Mr J one more time.
When I last heard 2011 he lived in a veterans home in Minneapolis, and volunteered at a North Star Scouting Museum. He may have passed by now, as he was in a wheel chair then.
DeleteI spent the evening with SM Jonasson with Cub scouts caroling. He has many pictures of his boys and misses thrm terribly. Looking for any of them to connect them. renee.estrella1@gmail.com
ReplyDeleteDick Jonasson and I were in the same class at John B. Allen Grade School. He was physically mature when the rest of us were not yet out of puberty. Curious. Perhaps he had been held back in school for unknown reasons. I later joined Troop 125, but, as he was in another Troop, I lost track of him. I instantly recognized his picture. I wonder about the reference to an accusation period and the Troop folding. Let me know. jwmclarke527@gmail.com
ReplyDelete