1965 Senior Girl Scout Roundup

Perhaps this story should be after all the posts about the years at Camp Comstock, but I've just been through all the pictures from this event, and it's fresh in my mind. So we are jumping ahead.

First of all, the pictures are from slides, and they have not held up well after all these years. I had to do serious restoration on the coloring, and you will see that many of them are still not good. I think they'd be better if I located our slide projector, put them on a screen and then took pictures of those. But I'm not willing to make a big enough mess to hunt down that projector right now. I think I know where it is, and it would "destroy" one of the rooms that's actually fairly neat.

Anyway. The Girl Scouts held an international gathering to showcase the best of Scouting in 1956, 1959, 1962, and 1965. The first was in Michigan, then Colorado, then Vermont, and finally the 1965 one was in Coeur D'Alene, Idaho, on Lake Pend Orielle, at the former Farragut Naval Training Grounds which closed in the late 1940s. There had also been several Boy Scout gatherings on that site. The year after our Roundup was there it became Farragut State Park.

The theme of our Roundup was "The Trail to Tomorrow." Each Roundup had its own theme and its own song. (I can still sing the ones from the other Roundups. Our song was horrible. I have the music somewhere, but not many people even liked it). Unlike the Boy Scout Jamboree, you had to go through a selection process to attend Roundup. Marie and I were both chosen, and also our friend Janet, whom we visit fairly often (if you're a long-time blog reader you've met her), and Nancy who is holding the naked chicken in the link below. Incidentally, friend Irene went to the 1962 Roundup. She is a few years older than we are.

This sign welcomed us as we approached the site. Each Roundup also had its own patch design- what you see on the sign but with better color, a similar pin, and a bolo tie with the slider in that design.

How did we all get there? Scouts from the east came by train. At the time, it was the longest passenger train on record, a half-mile long. It carried no one but Girl Scouts (and the train staff). We spent 3 days and nights on the train. We had pullman bunks to sleep in, but the meals were interesting. Empty cars had picnic tables down the length of the middle. They were not fastened down. We ate in shifts. So when your car was called you had to quickly go to the "dining" cars, and eat food that was bouncing around on tables that were bouncing!

It was my first time seeing the Rocky Mountains. We stopped at Yellowstone for a walking tour, and a bus tour from which we saw grizzly bears.

When we arrived at the location (taken the final miles by bus), we set up tents by patrols. How many is "we?" The number I remember is 10,000 girls. Wikipedia says there were 12,000 there. A lot. The Farragut site is a large level area surrounded by mountains. We were organized with four patrols to a troop. 8 girls in each patrol and 2 girls in a tent. Four patrols set up in a square around a central cooking and gathering area shared by the troop. We each had a number. Mine was C-6-158-001-6. That meant I was in Area C, Division 6, Troop 158, Patrol 001, and I was Camper 6 in the Troop. Your individual number (1-8) indicated your role in the Troop. Having a huge ego, I thought I should have been leader. Nope, not jr leader either, not first aid. Nervous laugh... I don't remember what my assigned role was!

This is one of the mass gatherings when every one of the 10K girls collected in a natural amphitheater for singing and various programs. You can see we all had hats, yellow hats, and we were to wear them at all times! It was hot and sunny.

This is a good picture, because in the near distance you can see the tent city we created. Farther away are the Coeur D'Alene Mountains that surrounded the lake and our location.

Here is Cape Horn Peak on the west side of the lake.

There was a trail up to the top. When we had free time (which wasn't often) we were encouraged to take various hikes. This is a picture of Marie, who also went to this Roundup, but who was not in the same patrol I was, at the high point.

There were lots of activities and duties. Each patrol got to participate in the campwide flag ceremony at least once. This involved a practice session the day before, so that no one messed up. There was a huge avenue of flags of all the countries where there are Girl Scouts or Girl Guides. (I do not remember why they were at half-staff.)

Girls from a number of other countries came to Roundup. Our local Council qualified to have two patrols, which would have been a total of 16 girls. But we also qualified to have one international patrol which meant that two girls from another country joined us, and we contributed 14 girls. I was not in the international patrol, but Marie was. Our Girl Guides were from Haiti. They were Marie-Bernadette and Mirielle. Here, they are wearing their dress uniforms. Mostly, we wore the Roundup uniforms- green shorts, white shirt, green knee socks, the bolo tie, and the hat.

There is a very nice picture of the Haitian girls in the link about Haiti below. Marie-Bernadette is in the uniform, but Mirielle is wearing an outfit that was supposed to represent native dress in that picture.

Roundup lasted two weeks. It was definitely one of my top 10 lifetime experiences. If you would like to hear more, I can fill another post with some of our activities. Let me know.

I worked on my program today, and did manage to mow some grass.

See My Interest in Haiti See Camp Comstock- Pioneer