ROPEGOD
The RopeGod is our Guide,
He belayeth me with a firm hand.
He leadeth me to high cliffs,
He maketh me tie-off to large trees.
He restoreth my soul,
He leadeth me on paths to hidden caves.
Thy beiner and thy rope,
They will not fail me.
Thou preparest a high tower before me,
to cast off all our brothers.
Thou always maintain Eveready,
The batteries we needeth.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the Gorge,
I will fear not, For thou art with me.
Surely goodness shall follow you
all the days of your life.
May the wind be calm,
as you climb to the stars.
The Adventures of Mr. Thurber
If you don't write it down, it didn't happen. So I am writing this down so we may never forget-.Mr. Bob Thurber, The RopeGod. Remember, all good deeds are rewarded
Troop 940 was very fortunate to have Mr. Bob Thurber as an Adult leader. He is actually responsible for this Troop's High Adventure Program. We're also glad to have had his son, Rob as a Scout.
MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS:
UNIFORM: Mr. Thurber never wanted to be in the limelight or to be formal. We bought him a Scout uniform shirt several years ago but he never wore it, saying the Navy was the last time he would ever wear a uniform. We gave up and accepted his workshirt and jeans
RAPELLING: Our rappelling program was limited to a 20 foot hill at Hocking hills. The adults were terrified of that cliff. It would take all day to get 20 scouts down this little rock. Of course we had one rope, harness, beaner, gloves and helmet. Each Scout was belayed from the top and bottom. While we were working on the rock, Bob moved down 50 feet and found a 30ft high cliff and set up shop. Bob was fearless. He brought his own equipment and started after the higher cliffs. Its much different pushing someone off a cliff from the top telling them it's OK. or Bob saying come on down, from below, I'm right here, you'll be OK. Bob's Rope Captain concepts created the Rappelling Program we have today.
Some people thought that we were sacrilegious calling him the ROPEGOD. It was just our way of showing respect and awe.
SCUBA: He brought his SCUBA equipment to a lock-in for everyone to try. He patiently took each Scout down to the deep end and go under. What an experience! 15 people have been certified since then because of Bob.
CAVING: The Troop went caving-commercial caves that you walk though-with electric lights. Bob lead us Spelunking to Pine Hill rappelling into 160 foot caverns. And redefining the words "dirty clothes".
TRAILER: The Troop bought a trailer, actually it was a converted pop-up camper. It had no brakes and was very heavy. Bob brought the WXIX White Elephant". Over the years I think he put 4 sets of brakes on that Truck. Several years later the Troop bought a new trailer, again Bob was the only one who could move it.
At Venturama, the brake wiring was blowing fuses so he rewired the entire system. Later, we found it was the license plate wire shorting. He also kept the trailer registered in his name and paid all the license fees and insurance. It was always hard to repay his expenses.
BISCUITS: We were camping at Hook- a survival hike. Our camp was behind the Ranger's house on the creek. It had snowed and it was very muddy. One of the Scouts twisted his ankle. While Trey and Mr. Leach were building a stretcher, Mr. Thurber heaved the Scout on his back and started to walk. After a few steps he stopped and said: "Boy, you better lay off those biscuits." You just had to be there!
CANOEING AT MORGANS.
Would drive down early Friday to reserve a campsite and insure that all the reservations were correct. Once we found a cemetery headstone in the river that some vandals had dumped. Mr. Thurber got it into his canoe and brought it back to Morgan.
Drive to Canada
QUARTERMASTER He built three additional Patrol boxes out of plywood and stored everything in his garage.
ROPE: Just before a campout, Mr. Thurber decided to cut his 600 foot rappelling rope into two 200 and two 100 foot rope for the troop to use. Want to see a grown man cry, cut his 600 ft of rope in half.
VOICE IF THE EAGLE. We used to have a microphone off stage for someone to read the Voice of the Eagle. Mr. Thurber recorded it over music making it very professional and very meaningful. Of course he used two tapes and Coutinho couldn't help playing tape two first, but that is another story.
SAILS: Mr. Thurber is a sailor at heart. At Camp Randsburg, he found several sailboats in desperate need of hardware and several sails were torn. The staff was too busy and inexperienced to fix them. Bob went to a local hardware store and purchased the required fittings. He then asked his wife to bring out their sewing machine so he could mend the sails. The catamaran was beautiful in it's new rigging.
PLC Every summer the PLC gets together and plans the next year. Most of the time we met at a local hotel and had donuts, pizza and swam in a pool. Mr. Thurber decided to go to Lake Cumberland. He rented a speedboat and took everyone skiing. Of course he was the best skiier in the troop. Everyone else tubed.
COPE:
The adults went trough the Friedlander COPE Course. Thurber climbed the wood ladder in record time.
SCOUTARAMA
For one Scoutarama Demonstration he brought a complete TV Studio and let Scouts film one another. What fun. Another scoutarama, we were displaying Rappelling, Guess who rented the scaffolding
Canada /fishing / GPS
Mt Washington
During the Flight of Eagles we needed equipment for the stage show. Bob brought us Speakers and lights and helped run the video and sound.
SCOUTMASTER: When the leader of the Leach Family said it was time to find a new Scoutmaster, the search began. No one wanted to try to fill the shoes of Bill Leach. In an effort to show that it wasn't too bad, someone asked Bill to write down his duties. The two-page list that resulted was a 40 hour per week job. The search was harder. Then we decided to break down the job into smaller bits. Bob Thurber actual wrote the first set of job descriptions for the Troop.
SENSE OF SECURITY If bob is there, I know everyone will be safe.
Questions about this home page should be directed to megabyte@iac.net or call 513-874-5578.
Page designed and maintained by Mike Coutinho