A Special Thank you to Bob Holbrook for sharing Memory Lane – Part 1 of the Lord’s leading in his life. If you have a story that would encourage others share it with us.
Bob Holbrook with camper
LA Skinner
My involvement in Pathfinder Leadership began way back during the 1961-1962 school year–60 years ago! The year before had been my only opportunity to be a Pathfinder Club member–The College View Trailblazers during my 8th grade year. Leroy Fields was our club director. I so enjoyed that year that I continued on as a Junior Counselor and as such was able to attend the first Central Union Pathfinder Camporee at Glacier View Camp. (Today the Central Union is merged with the Northern Union into the Mid-America Union.) At that Camporee I had the privilege of meeting Elder Laurence Skinner, the First World Pathfinder Director, along with several other early pioneers in Pathfinder Ministry like Don Palmer and others but this is getting ahead of myself.
Delmer Holbrook
My Grandfather had been in Youth Ministry way back in the ’30’s in the Southern Wisconsin Conference, then Bible teacher at Bethel Academy when the 2 Wisconsin Conferences merged. He led out in the first summer camps held in Wisconsin and Illinois. My Father was Youth and Education Director for the Bolivia Mission until the altitude affected my Mother and new born brother so we were moved to our college in Peru. While there Dad held their first summer camps for Peru, one in the Amazon jungles and one out on the beaches south of Lima. I attended both of them–fell in love with the jungles and earned my first MV Honor patch in Shells at the beach camp. So it might be said that Pathfindering, summer camps, and youth ministry was in my blood.
E L Minchin
But it wasn’t until Elder E. L. Minchin, General Conference Associate Youth Director, came for a Week of Prayer at our college in Peru (Colegio Union, Ñaña) that I made my decision both to be baptized and to “be just like Elder Minchin.” Little did I realize then in 1957 what God had in mind for me–in spite of my stubborn wandering at times.
I still have those shells I collected. They are now well mixed into a collection of shells numbering 50,000+ specimens and over 2,000 species. Also, there were some prizes for the best collections by the end of the week and I won a Japanese 50 yen note which started me on the road to collecting paper money and coins (and soon earned the Coins Honor) to the extent that for several years I was listed as a consultant in the International Paper Money Catalogue. Amazing it is how such simple things when I wasn’t even in my teen years yet would so mold my life.
Betty Holbrook
My family returned to the USA in January of 1960. We traveled around the US visiting grandparents, first in Minnesota, then in California and by Spring Dad had settled on a job at Union College while he worked on a second Masters and a Doctorate in Education. Mom finished a degree at Union in Secretarial and Home Economics–both were subjects which she had introduced to our school in Peru so now she actually could have a degree to back those talents up. My parents were a bit afraid that due to living overseas, I might be behind in my education so I was put into summer school where God introduced me to Mr. Axel who introduced me to Birding. I still have the little booklet we made that summer where we kept our “bird list”. I shortly completed the Birds Honor and today have well over 4,000 birds on my Life List spanning 96 countries. I should say that I was not actually behind in my education that year and found 8th grade a bit boring but being in the Pathfinder Club more than made up for it. That year along with several of my friends we rode our bicycles out old highway 2 towards Nebraska City 25 miles and back against the wind thereby completing our Cycling Honor. I had an old 3-speed touring style Schwinn that Dad found junked, we put it together with odd and end parts from other scrapped bikes and that led to organizing 50 and 100 mile invitational rides, biking the Natchez Trace, and many other biking events many years later when my own boys were old enough to ride. I eventually was to earn at “Double Metric” (200 km in one day) patch from the League of American Wheelmen.
In Part 2 of Memory Lane I’ll get back to where I left off in that first paragraph. In the meantime, check out your own Memory Lane and how God has led–is still leading in your life.
