Ray Gierhart

Ray Gierhart served for more than fifty years as a volunteer with the Boy Scouts of America. He received the Silver Beaver Award and served for 18 years as the curator of the Boy Scout, Girl Scout, and Campfire Museum in Sterling. He had been employed in the grocery store business for several years and had served as an alderman on the Sterling City Council.

He recalled that the old showerhouse (between the pool and the dining hall) was very deteriorated and infested with bees, and as a result the camp almost did not pass the national inspection. Camp Lowden was not in line for a new showerhouse, but it eventually got to the point where the council had no choice but to proceed. Ray went to Eller & Willey Block Company in Dixon and started stockpiling materials for a new showerhouse. A hardware company donated hardware, a wire company donated lots of material, etc. As a result it was ultimately built for less than twenty-five percent of the actual cost.

In 1980 the present showerhouse was constructed just east of the pool. The old one (located between the pool and the dining hall) was torn down upon its completion. On June 24, 1981, the new showerhouse was dedicated.

In the summer of 1982 Ray donated a large oil painting of the Black Hawk Statue to Camp Lowden.

Dan Bestul recalls,

Ray Gierhart was a fixture at camp for several years in the late 1970s and in 1980, serving as volunteer commissioner, quartermaster, program director, and staff ranger. Ray came off as an "old school" Scouter, with his Smokey-the-Bear hat, his jamboree patches, and his love for and knowledge of Scouting history. He was blessed with a great sense of humor, but epitomized the twelfth point of the Scout Law. Ray was always quick to laugh, especially at himself but he also made sure you knew it when you had crossed the line.

Ray was also a gifted artist. He designed several camp patches over the years, and the Lorado Taft Black Hawk Statue was one of his favorite subjects (he did the painting over the fireplace in the main lodge). This was particularly remarkable because he had a very severe sight impairment and was legally blind.

Chuck Walneck recalls,

Ray Gierhart was a fine gentleman. He was firm but gentle, funny and stern at the same time. He won your respect. Mr. Gierhart was also an artist; he did pencil sketches but his favorite was the Black Hawk Statue. Mr. Gierhart presented one of those pictures to me in 1979 at the end of our summer camp week. He inscribed some very kind words on the back of the picture, which now hangs proudly in my home. I will cherish it forever.

Dan Masterson recalls,

There were a few times that Ray Gierhart and my father [Ray Masterson] would discreetly get a package of plain M&Ms, and use a red or green one as a "homesick pill" for Scouts struggling being away from home. It worked, and they got the extra M&Ms.

Another great story from Dan Bestul is the following:

Late in the summer of 1978, the staff was gathering for the morning flag ceremony. Ray Gierhart was already there and he was livid. "I have never seen a bigger insult to America!" Not sure what he meant, I looked, and there on top of the flagpole like a poorly fitting helmet, was a five gallon plastic bucket. "We cannot fly a flag under that," Ray said. "It would be an insult to every soldier and sailor who ever wore a uniform. Someone had better get that down!" I was an ROTC cadet at the time and it seemed like the message was aimed straight at me.

I really did not see the point of the anger, but I knew we needed to get the bucket down. We began brainstorming things to do. Dropping the flagpole seemed to be the best idea, but Ray Masterson, the camp director, vetoed that idea since the last time someone had tried it [1973], it fell east instead of west, and wound up crashing into the roof of the main lodge. We left the lodge without the flag going up, and the two Rays were not very happy about it, insisting we figure out how to get it down by the end of the day. The staff spent much of the day trying to figure out how to get the bucket down, without any luck.

We gathered for retreat at the end of the day, wary of what was in store. At first, the two Rays continued with the morning theme, angry that we had not followed through on their directive. When it became apparent that we had no plan, they visibly softened. It quickly became apparent that THEY were the ones who put the bucket on the flagpole, and they got it down quite easily.

In 1999 I spent time in camp with my son’s troop (to whom I had taught the secret). They decided they wanted to repeat it as a prank on the staff. Several of them practiced on the flagpole in campsite during the week. Shortly after midnight on early Thursday morning a small team of "commandos" made their way from the campsite, returning fifteen minutes later to announce breathlessly, "Mission accomplished."

They could barely suppress their giggles as the staff marched up the trail the next morning. Bruce saw the bucket atop the flagpole, and he and Griffin Eckert were off on one of their exchanges. Modern staffers are much brighter than us old timers, though, and Griffin ]Eckert] and Jason got the bucket down, the flag went up, and life went on.

As we headed down the trail a leader from one of the other troops in camp stopped me. "Dan?" he said tentatively. I said I was (cautiously), and he told me his name: Paul Gierhart, Ray’s son and staff alum, also in camp with HIS son’s troop. Because each of us had only been in camp part of the week, we had not run into or recognized each other. However Paul said that once he saw the bucket on the flagpole and saw me standing with my troop, he knew who I was and who was responsible for the bucket!

Ray originally got the idea from Wayne Brooks. The idea behind this was that it was a way to provide the camp staff with a means to gel as a team. They withheld staff swims, ice cream, etc., until the bucket was removed. Wayne reports that the staff learned to bond pretty quickly.

Dan Bestul and his son attended the 2005 staff reunion. On Sunday morning, the day after the reunion, there was a bucket on the flagpole.

Ray Gierhart passed away in August 2006.