During his 10 years as scoutmaster of Boy Scout Troop 582 in Kenmore, Rich Wilkens hiked 854 miles with his scouts. He camped in a tent 313 nights, paddled rafts and kayaks over 200 miles, signed off as a counselor on 248 merit badges and mentored a pride of young men, with 37 Eagles in 10 years, 18 of which were able to come back for his recent retirement party. Most of Wilkens’ scouts who were unable to come sent e-mails and letters from as far away as Aman, Jordan, and Seoul, Vietnam.

Wilkens is resigning as scoutmaster, but he will still be active in scouting. He was Northlake’s district events coordinator for the state Boy Scout Jamboree and ran six events there. He will be the primary adult training leader, serving as the Woodbadge Course Director spring 2010, and he is going to the 100th anniversary of scouting’s National Jamboree 2010 as part of the staff.

As he says, “I just got a bit tired of ‘driving the bus.’ I still want to be involved in scouting, but I’d like to let someone else drive, I’ll just go along for the great ride.”

Pictured are: back row, left to right: Steven Schneider (’08), Will Reed (’08), Patrick Leonard (’09), Nicholas Preciado (’09), Paul Stepler Camp(’06), Alex Jones (’04), Ian Johnson (’04), Billy Wilkens (’07), Jerel Bromely (Life) and Branden Nilsen (’02).

Front row, left to right: Zack Billey (Life), Ben Billey (’08), Chris Themelis (’07), Brendan Keegan (’09), Conor McEnulty (’08), Rich Wilkens, Victor Wilkens (’02), Tyler Nilsen (’05), Darren Keegan (’07), Jon Begg (’08), Chuck Nixdorf (’07) and Matt Parsons (Life).