A Scoutmaster Passes On...

[Gary Rice]

Scouts, ATTENTION.

Sign's up.

Former Scoutmaster (of Troop 512, Grace Presbyterian Church) Robert Lees, has passed on. His visitation (12-2pm and funeral immediately following) will transpire tomorrow (April 24th) at Sunset Chapel in North Olmsted.

This great man made a tremendous difference in the lives of hundreds of young men growing up in 1960's Lakewood, including my own. (Yes, some Lakewood troops were huge back then!) I even wrote a column for the Lakewood Observer a few years back about him that you can access here:

http://lakewoodobserver.com/read/2008/2 ... e-among-us

Mr. Lees taught me and all the others who were in his troop that a Scout could do anything. Time and time again, I have had cause to recall and LIVE that message, and also to subsequently impart it to many other youngsters over the years.

At the conclusion of our 7:30 Monday night Scout meetings, and also at camp outs, or out on the trail somewhere...

...at the close of day, whatever differences we had, or whatever arguments we were pursuing among ourselves, we would drop all of that... and then?

We would all cross our arms and join our hands with each other and sing "Taps"; thereby ending each day with that sublime and timeless old song from our Civil War days...(Lyrics usually att. Horace Trim)

Back then, "Taps" was popular with both sides during the Civil War, and was therefore a great symbol of the hope of universal unity in an otherwise divided country. As a bugler/trumpet player, my dear late father Robert Rice played Taps probably thousands of times over his 4 plus years of service with the United States Army during WWII and even afterwards, as an American Legion member, but I digress here. Let's just pause and be quiet now for a moment. Please.

Day is done, gone the sun,
From the lake, from the hills, from the sky;
All is well, safely rest, God is nigh.

Fading light, dims the sight,
And a star gems the sky, gleaming bright.
From afar, drawing nigh, falls the night.

Thanks and praise, for our days,
Neath the sun, 'neath the stars, neath the sky;
As we go, this we know, God is nigh.

While the light fades from sight,
And the stars gleaming rays softly send,
To thy hands, we our souls, Lord, commend.

We Scouts would usually just sing the first verse. The last verse, of course, was, and is, appropriate for funerals.

Afterwards, Mr. Lees would conclude our meeting with two simple words:

"Goodnight Scouts."

Goodnight to you, Mr. Lees. Godspeed.

I wish that all of us here in Lakewood could put our differences aside (however briefly) and then cross our arms and hold hands at the end of the day and sing a verse or two of "Taps" together, but again, I digress here.

Back to the banjo.