Bob’s Uniform

A requirement to be able to attend that 1st Central Union Pathfinder Camporee in 1962 was to have completed at least one of the recently introduced “Advanced Classes”. In those days we had 4 classes: Friend, Companion, Explorer, and Guide, now each one had an advanced level. I had completed the Friend and Companion in our MV Society back in Peru and now in our Pathfinder Club, I completed the Explorer and Guide but since I was indeed a bit bored with school I decided to focus on those Advanced Classes so that by the summer of 1962 at the Camporee, I was one of 5 persons invested in all 4 of them:  Trail Friend, Frontier Companion, Range Explorer, and Wilderness Guide. I also worked on my Master Guide and was invested that Spring before the Camporee. Pathfindering had indeed become my cup of tea.

Boy Scout Manual

During these years, I found a like-minded friend, glutton for punishment in Dale Roland, son of our Union College Biology Professor. The College View Church had bought a farm out west of town to serve as a youth camp (the Nebraska Conference did not have one at the time) so Dale and I took an old Boy Scout manual my Dad had and we went camping at “The Farm”. With the manual, we experimented with every outdoor activity in the book. We made our own lean-to’s, built several kinds of fires without matches, cooked our food the “pioneer way”, learned all the lashings and used them for all our creature comforts in the woods. We even began to subsidize our food needs with edible wild stuff we found. We actually needed no instructors for any of this, we learned by trial and error (lots of errors) but we learned and survived very well–the best way in the world to learn anything is to get out and do it under real circumstances. And not to mention, of course, we developed a real love for the outdoors. We soon knew we could survive under most any circumstances in the wilds.

Our Nebraska Conference Youth Director, Elder Bob Tyson, held summer camps for a week at a time at both ends of the State. For some reason I no longer recall the State park at the eastern end where summer camps were held but the Western camp, I do. It was at Chadron State Park, way out in the Nebraska Panhandle. My role was to teach the Pathfinder Honors in  Grasses, Spiders, and Orienteering as well as being the bugler. All of our activities were “announced” by specific bugle calls. Besides the better known Reveille and Taps, we had flag raising and lowering calls, meeting calls, and meal calls so it was a busy fun event for me. My pay for the 2 camps was the compass Elder Tyson had bought for me to use in teaching the Orienteering Honor. I kept and used that compass for teaching as well as wilderness travel for nearly 6 decades and only lost it recently down at the Lake Whitney Ranch Camp in Texas while charting some nature trails for them. It really was one of my most prized possessions and I sorely miss it.

Bob’s kids 1st yr in PF Leader as Jr. Counselor at Central Union PF Camporee Glacier View

Bob Holbrook

The ’61-’62 school year–Pathfinder Yearly Cycle–was the year I began my lifetime of Pathfinder Ministry. I was a Junior Counselor  for the College View Trailblazers which then included that Union Camporee in Colorado. At that time I, for sure, would never have guessed that one day I’d be writing all this down having completed 60 years of Pathfinder Ministry. Along the way God would have me involved in nearly every position of leadership the club has starting at the most important level of all as a Junior Counselor and Counselor and slowly working my way down the line via Instructor, Deputy Director, Club Director (several clubs), Conference Director (several Conferences and Missions), Union Pathfinder Director (Central Brazil Union), Division Pathfinder Committee member (NAD), World Pathfinder Director, now on the Pathfinder Museum Board (AYMM), and finally back to my very first love–teaching nature honors at summer camps and giving kids an opportunity to catch a glimpse of their awesome Creator God through His Creation.

Crab Display at Wewoka Woods Nature Center

The Nature Centers I’ve been involved in first at MT. Aetna Camp in Maryland, then here at Wewoka Woods in Oklahoma and most recently helping New Jersey get one going at Tranquility Camp are my “finale”–something I dreamed of my entire life and am finally able, with God’s help, to bring to fruition.

MCC Camp Doss

Clark Smith

It was back in the ’40’s that the church initiated an organization for young men known as the Medical Cadet Corps. I had the privilege of attending “boot camp” the summer of ’63 at Grand ledge, Michigan. There I was privileged to meet the likes of Elder Harry Garlic, Clark Smith,  and even the Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, Corporal Desmond Doss for whom the camp was named.

Desmond Doss at Camp Doss

Since I’ve always enjoyed military-like activities, I quickly rose to the rank of Sergeant which meant that later that Fall when I opted to attend Platte Valley Academy for my Senior year I got to be First Sergeant in what was at the time one of the truly elite cadet corps in the North American Division.

Southern most Camporee Ushuaia, Argentina

Along the way, I’ve attended way too many Camporees at all levels with attendances ranging from a hundred to 50,000. While every Camporee was unique and fun, I must say that the small “Extension Camporee” of the South American Austral Union held at Ushuaia clear down at the far southern end of Argentina would rank extremely high on my memorable list. The official Union Camporee had been held up in the resort town of Bariloche, which was way too far for the extreme southern clubs to be able to attend so we held a duplicate Camporee just for them immediately after the main one. Being that far south and knowing there were just uninhabited islands between us and Antarctica was something special.

I’ve visited summer camp facilities in who knows how many countries, conferences, and missions on all continents (except Antarctica, of course). I wrote, edited, or adapted just about everything that has been in print involved with Pathfinder ministry and all that in 3 languages. What can I say more than God has been so extremely kind to me. Oh yes, I’ve made way more than my share of mistakes and the road has been full of potholes–mostly of my own making but God never said, “OK, enough, I’m done with you.” I guess I could write a ton of stuff about the nearly million miles I’ve traveled through 96 countries, all the awesome kind friends I’ve had along the way, the crazy places I’ve laid my head for “rest”, the interesting foods I’ve enjoyed (?), and the unique and inspiring Pathfinders I’ve had the privilege to meet. I know of certain times in certain places where I faced death but God held me tight, enough times to be aware that there were, for sure, many times I was not aware and simply went blissfully on my way. The Pathfinder Law has been my guide “Go on God’s errands”, “Ir aonde Deus mandar” should always be our sight. Most of all I keep in mind that this life is very transitory and much is of little importance but one day very soon, I do hope and expect to meet again all those Pathfinders I met along the way in that Earth made new where the natural world will be in its original pristine sinless beauty–OH WHAT A DAY THAT WILL BE! “EVEN SO LORD COME QUICKLY”.