Boy Scout Troop 114 to honor Alva Baker
 |
| On Monday evening, Peach and Alva Baker will be honored for their decades of committment to Boy Scout Troop 114. |
Over those years, he said, he's met a lot of outstanding young men, and watched them grow up to excel in a wide array of fields.
"The biggest reward is when you're sitting at home and someone knocks on the door, and it's one of those Boy Scouts you helped years ago come to reminisce," Alva said.
Alva was born in Porthill in 1933, delivered, coincidently, by the same doctor who would deliver the little girl, Peach, who would become his wife in 1962, as well as their oldest son, Ken.
In 1947 he joined the Cub Scouts, moved up into the Boy Scouts, and earned Scouting's highest rank, Eagle, on May 7, 1951. He was drafted into the Army in 1953, and served in Germany until being honorably discharged in 1955 and returning home.
He became a Scout Master in Troop 114 in 1957, but took a less active role after he and Peach started their family. When Ken grew old enough, he, too went into the Cub Scouts, and that's when Alva went into scouting full bore, serving for awhile as a Cub Master, Webelos Master and Assistant Scout Master simultaneously. In 1974, he was appointed Scout Master, and even while working as a sawyer in local mills for 45 years and farming in the 16 years since he retired, he never slowed down until officially stepping down last August. And though he's no longer the official Troop 114 Scout Master, neither Alva nor Peach will remain involved, "more in the background" Alva said.
Both Ken and his younger brother, Darwin, became Eagle Scouts, Ken in 1978, Darwin in 1979.
"At heart, he's still a kid," Peach said with a twinkle in her eye. "I don't know what we'll do if he ever grows up!"
"I've been very lucky," Alva said. "The best kids in the world seem to gravitate into the Boy Scouts, and I've met some awfully great people through the years."
He's taken young men from Boundary County to Camp Easton on Lake Coeur d'Alene for the last 40 years, and has taken countless treks with his Scouts through some of the most remote places in Boundary County, often treks of up to 100 miles. His Scouts have competed in the state forestry contest since 1982, and taken home their share of honors.
He's worked with an array of Scout Leaders
"We had some great times," he said.
He doesn't refer to them as "boys," saying, "if you treat them like boys, they'll act like boys. Treat them like young men, and they act like young men."
Reading through a list of "young men" who reached Eagle rank, both Peach and Alva pause often to comment about the success stories of most of them, from high positions in business and real estate to working for NASA and for the federal government.
You never hear much about what Alva and Peach contributed to Boy Scouting in Boundary County all these many years; Alva has steadfastly refused interviews for decades.
"It's about young men, not me," he said. "Scouting gives them a solid foundation, and I am glad I was allowed to play a role."
Monday's Eagle Court of Honor takes place at 7 p.m. at Trinity Lutheran Church, and everyone in the community is welcome, especially the many Boy Scouts down through the years in whose lives Alva and Peach played a role.