Girl Scout troops celebrate reunion
By Bonnie Edwards
Published in News on August 17, 2004 1:57 PM
Today they are doctors, lawyers, business professionals and parents.
They attribute their success to Girl Scouts.
They say it gave them a variety of experiences that offered them opportunities they might never have had. Many of them have daughters who are Girl Scouts now.
The girls of Troop 219 were part of the 1984 graduating class at Goldsboro High School, Eastern Wayne High School and Wayne Country Day. They were active in Girl Scouts for 11 years.
Deborah Brady of the Girl Scout Council of Coastal Carolina said many parents and adults were involved through the years, encouraging the girls to stay in Girl Scouts and to earn the Gold Award. All 20 of the girls in Troop 219 earned the award between 1983 and 1984.
Twenty years later, 19 of them traveled to Emerald Isle for a week-long reunion this month. They came from places like Morocco, Maine, Florida, California. They brought their husbands and children, 11 mothers, three fathers, a grandmother and an aunt.
Mrs. Brady said they shared a week of memories and friendship and reaffirmed their commitment to the power of the Girl Scout program. They all shared the feelings about how the opportunities they had in Girl Scouts affected their lives.
"In Girl Scouting, you learn very early the meaning of friendship," she said. "There is a song about making new friends but keeping the old. 'One is silver, and the other's gold.'"
Most of the moms still live in Goldsboro. One of them, Emily Powell, was the troop leader in 1984.
Mrs. Powell led the girls while her daughters were in the ninth through the 12th grades.
The girls decided in the ninth grade they wanted to go on a trip. They made chicken salad and sold containers of it by the pound. They made 150 pounds a month for nine months all three years.
They raised enough for all 13 girls to go on the 18-day trip through New York and Boston and into Quebec and Montreal, and through the Pennsylvania Dutch Country.
Mrs. Powell is the grandmother of a Girl Scout. She is the mother of Beth Powell Frye, who now lives in Greenville.
Mrs. Frye and Kit Flynn coordinated the reunion. They said they are planning to meet again in five years.
"It has been great to reconnect with everyone," said Mrs. Frye. She is the mother of two daughters and plans to be involved in her daughters' Girl Scout experiences. "We wondered how it would be to see everyone again, and the minute we saw each other, it was like the 20 years disappeared. We laughed, cried and enjoyed each other just like family."
Each one of the women had stories about the challenges of growing up and the ways that the girls in their Girl Scout troop helped them succeed.
"It was great," she said. "Several of us were there the entire week."
The group raised more than $800 for a memorial gift to cancer research at Chapel Hill. Five of the mothers had died, and four of them had died from cancer-related illnesses.
The Girl Scout Council of Coastal Carolina wants to reconnect with Girl Scout Alumni. If you were a girl or adult member of Girl Scouting please contact the Service Center in Goldsboro at 919-734-6231 or e-mail dbrady@gscoastalnc.org.
The council serves over 900 girls ages 5 through 17 in Wayne County. For information, visit the Service Center at 108 E. Lockhaven Drive, Goldsboro or call 734-6231, extension 123.