Troop 235 History
The Time … A Friday Night in 1937 …
The Place … St.Luke’s Parish …
The Mission … To develop today’s boys into tomorrow’s leaders of the community
That is how it all began. Boy Scout Troop 235 started with its mission to foster the growth of young boys into gentlemen and future leaders by learning and living the Boy Scout Oath…
“On my honor, I will do my best
to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law;
to help other people at all times;
to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight”
The Troop continues to meet Friday nights, 7pm to 8:30 in St. Luke’s school and all boys, ages 11 to 18 are welcome.
Many People might be surprised to find out that the Boy Scouts is a youth run organization. The Boys elect their own leaders and these leaders plan, organize and run the meetings and events under the supervision and advisement of the adult leaders. This hands on training helps the boys gain “real world” leadership responsibilities and helps them become better leaders. Yes, sometimes the meetings are chaotic and not as organized as an adult would like them to be, but this is part of the learning process. It is said that “good judgment comes from bad judgment.” Allowing the boys to fail will help develop their skills as leaders.
Boy Scouts have 7 ranks which are earned: Scout, Tenderfoot, 2nd Class, 1st Class, Star, Life and, of course the highest and most prestigious rank, Eagle....that is because only 3% of all registered scouts ever earn the rank of Eagle Scout. The Eagle Scout rank is a great honor and the hallmark of integrity, leadership and perseverance. As of today, Troop 235 is honored to have 62 boys earn the rank of Eagle Scout. It took 21 years from the start-up of the Troop to have our first Boy Scout, Robert Franz, earn the rank of Eagle, in 1957. Our numbers of Eagles grew slowly until 1980.
In that year, Robert C. Lohnes (Uncle Bob as the boys affectionately called him), assumed the role of Scout Master, Bob mentored the scouts and our ranks of Eagle Scouts grew rapidly from 12 to 62 by the year 2013! For over 30 years, Uncle Bob was an extremely dedicated servant to the boys of our parish community. He was with them every Friday night regardless of his own personal affairs. Every month was a weekend camping trip, regardless of weather and in the summer the troop spent 1 or 2 weeks at Ten Mile River Scout Camps with Bob in command. As a Navy veteran, Bob would wake the scouts up in the morning by blasting the song “Old soldier” on his cassette player, often to the dismay of neighboring camp sites. Bob was an icon at camp and in scouting. Bob was liked and respected by the entire scouting community in New York. He was chosen by the New York City area as their first Scoutmaster to be honored with the prestigious National President’s Scoutmaster Award of Merit, the first year the honor was created by the National Council in 1988. .Sadly, this past March Bob was hospitalized. As he lay in his bed, all he could talk about was getting well so he could spend summer camp with his beloved scouts. On March 15th, Robert C. Lohnes lost his battle and was called home to our Father in Heaven. He is mourned by many scouts, both young and old. Uncle Bob has not only touched, but changed the lives and futures of so many young boys over the last 36 years. All who knew him were blessed. Just before Bob’s death his family planned on taking part in the Icla Da Silva Foundation’s walk/run for bone marrow donation and began fund raising setting $2,500 as their goal. On May 17th Bob’s family and friends, which included several of his former scouts and a current one, took part in this event earning "Bob’s Mustaches" , as the team is called, the first place plaque for the most funds raised…over $11,000. This will become a yearly event as a means of continuing Bob’s legacy of helping others.
As with the presidency of the United States we, too, provided for an uninterrupted transfer of adult leadership so that our youth would always be served. Bob has been succeeded by John Sommer as Scout Master of Troop 235. John has worked closely with Bob for the last several years. Let us pray that the Lord works in John as it did in Uncle Bob. May he rest in peace.