43
89-year-old Eagle Scout, John D. Wolboldt, stays grounded in principles
CANFIELD
The area’s oldest living Eagle Scout strongly supports the Boy Scouts of America’s policy banning openly gay members and leaders, but deplores the organization’s movement away from outdoor activities.
John D. Wolboldt, 89, of Troop 25 in Canfield, believed to be the oldest living Eagle Scout in the area that is now served by the Greater Western Reserve BSA Council, received his Eagle Award, the highest award for youth members, on Aug. 26, 1940.
Wolboldt, former Troop 5 scoutmaster and assistant scoutmaster for 41 years, also is a recipient of the Silver Beaver Award, the highest honor for adult leaders for council-level distinguished service; and the national Distinguished Eagle Scout Award for distinguished service in his profession and to his community for a period of at least 25 years after attaining the level of Eagle Scout.
The 100th anniversary of the Eagle Scout Award is Aug. 21, 1912, when Arthur Rose Eldred became the first Eagle Scout of the BSA.
The Boy Scouts did not make as big of a deal about the Eagle Award in 1940 as is made now, said Wolboldt, who conducts Eagle Award Courts of Honor for the Greater Western Reserve Council.
“They just lined us up gave us our pins,” he said, describing how he received his award.
Unlike some Eagle Scouts who have returned their medals in protest of the BSA policy denying membership to openly gay boys and leaders, Wolboldt said gay leaders have no business in Scouting.
“I agree with the policy 100 percent. I wouldn’t let a kid in a troop if I knew a leader was gay,” he said.
Scouting is a great program, but no troop is better than its leadership — and kids who have lousy leaders get cheated, Wolboldt said. Half of what a Scout gets out of Scouting is from the examples of their adult leaders, he said.
A program is a good as the adult leaders want to make it, said Wolboldt, who has trained adult leaders for 40 years and admits he was an “absolute dictator” as a troop leader.
“Kids want to know what the boundaries are,” he said.
The oldest membership-wise at Canfield United Methodist Church, where he has held numerous leadership positions, Wolboldt served in the Army from 1944 to 1946 and was in the Battle of the Bulge and the Rhineland Campaign. He is a member of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9571 in Ellsworth and its Honor Guard, which has served at 125 military funerals so far in 2012 and at 1,190 funerals during the eight-year period ending Dec. 31, 2011.
Wolboldt, whose three sons are Eagle Scouts, conversely does not agree with everything the Boy Scouts of America is doing.
Wolboldt, who led an expedition to Philmont (New Mexico) Scout Ranch in 1963, said he particularly does not like what he sees as the de-emphasis of outdoor activities, such as camping and hiking, in favor of more socially oriented programs.
A former fireman for the Erie Railroad, a steelworker at Metal Carbides Co. in Youngstown and letter carrier at the Youngstown Post Office, Wolboldt said as a Scout he “lived for outdoor activities” and still believes it is the most important single activity Scouting can offer.
Wolboldt, a 1941 graduate of Canfield High School, became a Boy Scout over the objections of his father, Grover, who said the uniform looked too much like a military uniform. However, he did have the support of his mother, Ethel, who became a Cub Scout den leader.
He was determined to become a Scout after, at age 10, he fell into the water at Yellow Creek Park in Struthers and was pulled out by a Boy Scout.
“He saved my life. I couldn’t wait to be a Scout. I joined the day I was 12,” he said.
Seventy-seven years later, Wolboldt is still a Boy Scout at heart.
Wolboldt and the former Beverly Williard, whom he thanked for her support and patience during all the time he spent away from home as an adult Scout leader, will have been married 71 years Aug. 19.
“You can’t really do Scouting right without the support of your wife,” he said.
They have four children: a daughter, Barbara Wszelaki of Seville, a nurse; and three sons, Daniel of Warren, Pa., a major in the Army; William of Colorado Springs, Colo., a first lieutenant in the Army; and Dr. Clinton in Texas, a retired Army lieutenant colonel. They have four grandchildren, one of whom is deceased; five great-grandchildren; and one great-great-grandchild.