Thinking About Time

Are your contemplative thoughts mostly about the future or about the past?

Last week I thought mostly about the past. Wednesday morning I drove a few miles from my home and took two pictures. The building in these photos is the Old Richmond Grange Hall on Tobaccoville Road. The sign on the front of the building reads, Old Richmond Grange 675. The local Grange constructed the building in 1955 with a $10,000 grant from the National Grange and the Sears Roebuck Foundation. The grant was given for active community involvement by this Grange, which was chartered in 1930. Local Grange leaders organized community groups, helped create a local volunteer fire department, and provided other important functions to the surrounding unincorporated areas. The Grange and its building continue to serve the Old Richmond, Tobaccoville, Pfafftown, and Dozier communities for local club meetings, a place for new churches to get organized, and as a meeting place for other community gatherings.

In 1957 I joined the Boy Scouts of America when Troop 146 met on the lawn and inside this Grange Hall. Sam M. Gilbert (1921-2002) and Charles D. Hooker (1923- ) were scout leaders. I was 10 years old and recall taking an interest in the Scout's Handbook and the survival tips suggested on the pages inside. I was in scouting only a couple years and then other youthful interests became a priority. During that period, I learned about the outdoors, knot tying, and camping as well as getting to know other rural boys beyond our familiarities in school.

Several years ago and after Mr. Gilbert died in 2002, I attended the public auction where his estate was sold. There I offered the highest bid ($30) for his last wristwatch, a Swiss Army model with a Speidel Twist-O-Flex band. See it in the pictures below. I wear this watch more than the others I own and sometimes think of my assistant scoutmaster when I look to check the time.

Click on the pictures to enlarge.

Have a good week!