Friendship

 

Friendship

Noel Laflin

11-19-24

 

When I started working professionally for the Boy Scouts back in September 1976, I really didn't have a clue as to how to raise money or recruit kids for the organization - the two things that either made or broke a young professional in that field.

 

Then I was introduced to a woman, a volunteer Cub Scout leader by the name of Joan Gribble, who must have taken pity on the floundering newbie (the idealistic, but naive twenty-three-year-old me), as she quietly took me by the hand and showed me the ropes in order to get the job done.

 

We made for a successful team over the next three years advancing our district to number one in both recruitment as well as financial achievements. We were a force to be reconnected with. And, with Joanie in mind, they remain some of my fondest memories of that long ago era.

 

I couldn't have done any of this without her.

 

And now she turns 90, and I am on the verge of 72.

 

But at her birthday party on Saturday, (attended by former Cub Scouts now all in their 60's), it was as if no time at all had passed.

 

Scouting has changed. But fierce loyalties and strong friendships are still intact.

 

Happy birthday, dear friend! And as always, you remain trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind ... well, the list does go on and on, naturally enough.