DEXTER, Mo. -- The work of two pioneers of Scouting in the Southeast Missouri area, both Stoddard County natives, was honored recently with the presentation of the prestigious James E. West Award at the Sioux District's Leadership Appreciation Banquet held at the Dexter Elks.
Bob Keathley of Dexter became involved in the Scouting arena as a child of the 1940s and early 50s. Little could he have known what a vital role Scouting would play throughout his life and as well, in the lives of his sons and grandchildren.
Keathley earned the rank of Eagle Scout in December 1952, and was a recipient of Scouting's God and Country Award and the District Award of Merit by the mid-1960s. In 1973, the Silver Beaver Award, Scouting's highest volunteerism honor, was presented to him as he served the community as Scoutmaster.
Keathley served as past president of the Southeast Missouri Council in 1982-1983, a council through which his leadership has played an integral role over the past three decades. He is also an honored member of the Order of the Arrow.
Keathley has accompanied local Scouts numerous times to Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico and has served on staff at Camp Lewallen for many years.
On behalf of the Greater St. Louis Area Scouting Council and the District James E. West Fellowship Committee, the James E. West Award was presented to Keathley by veteran Scout Leader Randy Graves, who served as chairman of Saturday night's event and is the Sioux District public relations chairman.
Bob Keathley was credited with having influenced many young lives over the years, but perhaps none as dramatically as those of his own sons. One of those sons was also honored Saturday night.
Mike Keathley's life was claimed by cancer in March 2008 after fighting the disease for more than five years. Also heavily involved in the Scouting arena, Mike Keathley, life his father before him, earned the Eagle Scout rank as a young man in 1973. And like the father who taught him well the value of Scouting, he was awarded the District Award of Merit in 1982, the God and Country Award, the Order of the Arrow and a Vigil Honor Member in 1982.
Mike Keathley went on record as having been the youngest recipient in the SEMO Scouting Council of the Silver Beaver Award, presented to him in 1986. Again as his father did, he assisted Scouts at Philmont Scout Ranch for many years. Additionally, he served on staff of three National Jamborees including Valley Forge in 1964, Idaho in 1969 and in Virginia in 1981.
In 1971 he served in his first World Scouting Jamboree in Japan, later doing the same in Norway in 1975, in Australia in 1988 and in 1991 in South Korea. He served as vice president of the Southeast Missouri Council and as executive board member and council camping chair of the Greater St. Louis Area Council. He was Wood Badge trained and served as senior patrol leader in 1988 and on staff at Camp Lewallen as well.
"How do you recognize someone who has done so much and who touched so many people in his life?" asked Graves in presenting the James E. West Award posthumously to Mike Keathley.
James E. West was the first chief scout executive of the Boy Scouts of America. In 1910, West began a 33-year stint as chief scout executive for Boy Scouts of America. Funds that are presented to the Scouting Council's trust fund in an award recipient's name become part of the Council's permanent endowment - perpetually generating income to sustain the Scouting program.