Scouting is topic of lecture at Tyler

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Mahoning Valley Historical Society will present “The Scouting Movement: How It All Began” at noon Thursday in the Tyler History Center, 325 W. Federal St., downtown.

The speakers for the event, which is part of the Bites and Bits of History lunch series, are Fritz Coombs and Bill Moss, who will portray the life of Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the scouting movement.

The program will explore how he started scouting, how it came to the United States, and Mahoning Valley scouting history.

Admission is free and attendees may bring their own lunch. Doors open at 11:30 a.m. In addition to ample street parking nearby, an adjacent public lot on the west side of the building is available and costs $2.50.

For information, go to mahoninghistory.org.

Coombs is a lifelong resident of the Mahoning Valley. As a youth, he earned the Eagle Scout Award. Some 28 years later, his son Evan joined Cub Scouts and eventually, also earned the Eagle Scout Award.

Coombs has served in a variety of adult leadership positions in scouting on all levels, and currently is an executive board member and assistant council commissioner for the Great Trail Council of the Boy Scouts of America.

Moss has been involved with scouting all his life.

Moss is also the Greater Western Reserve Council Scouting Museum curator, which he started in 2009 at Camp Stambaugh.

Traveling abroad through his military career, he has worked with foreign scouts. He is the father of two Eagle Scouts.