Richmond (Ric) Wilkins' BSA Career

As a boy Richmond Wilkins did what most boys did and still do today - he joined Cub Scouts.   We was in Cub Pack 8 in the Comanche Trails Council in Brownwood, Texas.  Mrs. Green was his Den Leader.  He earned his Wolf, Bear, and Lion ranks and finished with his Arrow of Light.  He followed the rest of his den when the went to Boy Scout Troop 8, but after seeing the program decided not to cross over and join the scout troop and left scouting.....

......six months later, one of his friends (Cliffe Browning) in his neighborhood asked Richmond to come to his Boy Scout Troop 1 meeting.  Richmond liked their program and joined.  He has never stopped.  He served on camp staff at Bill Gibbons Scout Camp when he was 13.  On his scouting journey he was passed over the first year he was eligible for the Order of the Arrow (OA) and instead was called out when he was 14.  He was hooked.  Troop 1 in Brownwood was a big supporter of the OA.  Even the older scouts in his troop, like Dabney Kennedy who had gone on to college, would come back t take him and other troop members to section conclaves in Corpus Christi and Harlingen and in particular the 1958 National Order of the Arrow Conference:

"I also remember walking back to the dorm from one of the shows late one night.  One of the Scouts made an obscene gesture to some college students who were passing by.  The college students stopped their car, came back and asked what we were doing there.  Nobody seemed to want to say and consequently, since I was the biggest one of the group, they beat the living devil out of me......we learned a valuable lesson that day."

By the time he was 18, he was awarded the Eagle Scout with six palms, Silver Award (highest award in Explorers) from Post 1, and was just shy of earning the Quartermaster Award in Sea Scouts.  He served as Vice Chief of Otena Lodge.  He was selected to keep his Vigil in 1962, but was never called out......

......until 1963.  After and interview with Joe Clements (who in the interview changed Richmond's name to Ric), Ric Wilkins joined professional scouting on November 1, 1962, in what is now the Last Frontier Council of Oklahoma.  He was stationed in Altus, Oklahoma.  He was a District Executive over five counties and served as Camp Director and Program Director.  He served as Staff Adviser to the OA Lodge for all four years.  In the spring or 1963, he was surprised to be called to keep his Vivil.  Ric would learn much later that Otena had contacted what is not MaNu Lodge 133 and they honored the selection.

In 1966 he transferred to Killeen, Texas to the Heart of Texas Council, (now Longhorn Area Council), as District Executive.  He served four counties and was based out of Fort Hood.  During his seven years he had 56% of eligible youth in his district registered in scouting.  He was the Top Boys Life Salesperson in the Region for two years.  He had all his units re-charter in February so he could map out his calendar for each year.  Within his first two years he assembled a staff of seven men serving in the military at Fort Hood whose sole purpose was the Boy Scout Program.  Ric served as Program Director and served as Staff Adviser with the Huaco Lodge (now part of Netopalis Sipo Schipinachk Lodge 209).

In 1973 he transferred to Odessa, Texas in the Buffalo Trails Council.  He served as Field Director for the Western half of the Council.  He also served as Camp Director and Assistant Scout Executive.  Ric oversaw the building of Colorado City Camp, now the Hughes Aquatic Base.  He served as Staff Adviser to the OA Lodge and served as Section 4 Staff Adviser for three of his seven(+) years.

In 1979 Circle Ten Council Scout Executive Billy Gamble wanted to build a horseback riding program at Camp Cherokee in the Clements Scout Reservation.  Mr. Gamble read and article in Scouting magazine on the horse program at Buffalo Trails Scout Ranch, and the man that created that program, Ric Wilkins.  Billy set up an interview.

On September 1, 1980 Ric Wilkins transferred to the Circle Ten Council as Director of Camping.  He was named the Staff Adviser of Mikanakawa Lodge and Section Staff Adviser to every Section Mikanakawa Lodge was in from 1986 to 2001.  During the merger of Texoma Valley Council into Circle Ten Council, he served as Staff Adviser for Okiciyapi Lodge.

As Director of Camping, Ric Wilkins oversaw camp improvements at Camp Wisdom, Camp Constantin, and Camp Grayson - now Camp James Ray.  His crowning achievement is the work at Camp Cherokee at Clements Scout Reservation.  For his decades of service to the OA he was awarded the National Order of the Arrow's highest award, the Distinguished Service Award, in 1992.

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