This is copied here with permission from The Weatherford Democrat, July 23, 1956 issue.

Girl Scouts in Parker Co., TX

This article was copied as written except for the additions made in italics.  I debated deleting the first few paragraphs concerning the general history of Girl Scouts, only printing the history of Girl Scouts in Parker County.  However as a Girl Scout Life Time Member and Master Trainer for Girl Scouts, I decided to leave the article as originally written.  While the Girl Scout movement has made changes since 1956 when this article was written most of it is still accurate of Girl Scouting today.  The new Girl Scout motto, "Girl Scouts, where girls grow strong", reinforces the original goals stated in the third paragraph.  

In typing the article, lists of people were typed as lists, not paragraphs to make them easier to read and scan for names. Names are in bold letters for the same reason.  Added below are links to specific groups listed in the article.

First Girl Scout Troop

First Council Officers about 1930

First Girl Scout Training in Weatherford - names of those receiving their First Aid Certification

Troops in 1956 includes leader's names.

1956 Officers of Weatherford Girl Scout Association

Picture of top cookie sellers in 1956- Click back to return to this page.

REVEILE - The flag raising ceremony begins each day in scout camps all over the world.  This picture was made at a flag raising ceremony at Camp Holland.  Miss Anna Hackett, director of the camp for many seasons, is pictured in the background.

Girl Scout Movement to

Scouting, which was started for boys in England in 1908 by Lord Robert Baden - Powell, was adapted for girls at the end of 1909 and called Girl Guiding.  Sir Robert's sister, Miss Agnes Baden-Powell, became its first president.  In 1912, Mrs. Juliette Gordon Low, (1860-1927) fondly called "Daisy", who had been connected with the organization in England, founded the movement in this country and organized the first Girl Scout troop at her home in Savannah, Georgia, on March 12th.  She developed the program to meet the needs of American girls and started the national organization that today numbers well over two million girls and leaders in its membership.  There are Girl Scouts today in cities, towns, villages, and rural sections all over the United States and in thirty-five other countries, making a grand total of three and half million members.

The name "Brownies" was given to the youngest (ages 7-10) members of the Girl Guides in 1915 by Lord Robert Baden-Powell.  The theme of the Brownie Scout program was taken from "The Brownies," a story in a book called "Brownies and Other Tales" by Mrs. Juliana Horatia Ewing.  The underlying philosophy of Girl Scouting can become very real and acceptable to these youngest members through their own interpretation of the Brownie Story.

The fundamental aim of Girl Scouting is to help each girl find and develop her individual abilities and appreciations, so that she may become a happy resourceful person with a healthy attitude toward life and a responsible useful member of her home, her church, and society.  The ideals are embodied in the Girl Scout Promise, Laws, and motto for Girl Scouts and in the Brownie Story and the Brownie Scout Promise for Brownie Scouts.

Girl Scouting was brought to Parker County by Miss Mae Bettie Taylor, a High School teacher, in the fall of 1917, with a group of girls about the ages of 14 to 16.  The Girl Scouts were:

Irma Fay Andrews,
Stella Braselton,
Mattie Belle Browder,
Willie Davis,
Bonnie Elliott,
Mary Louise Hensley,
Lillian Jones
Elna and Louise May
Jenny Noble,
Louise Ray
Angie Waldron and
Henri Nell Williams.

Three of this original troop are still living in Weatherford: Lillian Jones; Jenny Noble, now Mrs. J. C. White, and Mattie Belle Browder, now Mrs. Frank Wolfenberger.  They were dressed in khaki brown uniforms with the khaki army-styled hats of that period, and they went on many hikes.  (Back in 1914-1915, Mattie Sue Browder and Anna Hackett, both who were to become very active in Scouting years later, were Camp Fire Girls, an organization similar to the Girl Scouts, but the three clans, or troops, were not in existence for long.)  Then, Miss Mae Taylor moved from Weatherford, and died thereafter, and after lasting about a year, Girl Scouting faded out of the picture for a spell.

Girl Scouting flourished again in Weatherford to stay, when it was brought back with a bang and with firm roots that lasted and grew, by Estelle Vandagriff, not much more than a teen-ager herself at the time in 1930.  The first troop started at Couts Memorial Methodist Church with about 10 girls from all over town.  The group grew so in number that they had to move to town in an abandoned doctor's offices over the old Cherry-Akard Drug Store.  They had been vacant so long that the major renovation job was just getting them clean.

By the time a few weeks had passed, the offices were gleaming and were even outfitted with furniture of a sort.   From some source, the girls acquired two old leather couches; they transformed makeshift seats into chairs and by the time they received their first official Girl Scout visitor, they were ready and waiting with lemonade to serve.  A Miss Toohy of Regional, now of National, came to see what the infant troop was doing and was not only surprised at their accomplishments but proved her pleasure the following summer when she recommended Estelle for a "campership," a scholarship for leaders' camps.  The group grew so that they met up at Junior High and finally forty girls had to be divided into two troops.

The following Council officers were elected at that first meeting:

Commissioner,G.D. Vanlandingham
Deputy Commissioner, L. B. Wilson, who has served as Camp Chairman for many years and also as a member of the Area Board;
Secretary-Treasurer and Registrar, Mrs. E. M. Russell, serving from 1945 to 1953;
Program Chairman, Mrs. Hugh Gracy;
Camp Chairman,  Bob Jordan
Training Chairman, Escoe Webb;
Public Relations Chairman, Miss Beth Kayser;
Finance Chairman, James Doss;
Organization Chairman Miss Ruth Hutcheson;
and Leaders' Representative, Mrs. H. O. Taylor, who was training Chairman on the Area Board in 1949.

The subject of joining the Heart of texas Area, consisting then of 11 counties, now 16 with headquarters at Brownwood, was first brought into the picture at the Weatherford Girl Scout Council meeting on March 11, 1948.  Miss Allyce Nelson explained the main purpose was to receive training.  Heretofore, troops had to go to Fort Worth to another Council to receive training.  The local Council joined the Area on May 13, 1948, and changed its name to the Weatherford Girl Scout Association.  The first training given locally was on October 11th and 12th, 1948, by Miss Bobbie Wash, Executive Director, employed by Brownwood in April, 1947.  Mrs Carson Baker, taught a charter First Aid class of the Girl Scout Leaders Club and on May 5, 1948, presented the following with their Standard First Aid Certificates:

Mrs. Barker,
Mrs. R. E. Brown,
Mrs. M.F. Miller,
Mrs. J. M. Coates,
Mrs. G.W. Newsome,
Mrs. W. J. Robinson, and
Mrs. Frank Wolfenberger.

There were three troops in existence at the time the local Council was first formed:

Troop No. 1, Leader, Mrs. Robin P. Robin - later Miss Anna Hackett's troop - with Mrs. Ollie McDavid as Assistant Troop Committee Chairman, Mrs. Carl Hartness; Committee, Mrs. Leon Savage, Mr. E. L. Webb, and Mrs. Pete Durrett.  This troop organized in 1944 with 17 girls of ages 12 to 13 and they met at Junior High School.

Troop No. 2, Mr. Vanlandingham and Mrs. H. O. Taylor helped to organize this troop in 1944, with 14 girls.  Mrs. R. E. Rogers was the leader, Mrs. Griffith as Assistant.  Mrs. Robert Murrell, Mrs. Francis Priest, and Mrs. Leo Browder assisted with this troop also.  Mrs. Carson Baker helped with their First Aid program.  The troop was two years at Bowie School then went to Junior High, Troops 2 and 3 were sponsored by the PTA when the girls were in Junior High.

Troop No. 3, with Mrs. Lawrence Feagin as leader, Mrs. W. C. Bean as Assistant and Mrs. Stanton Fields, organized themselves in 1944 at the T. W. Stanley School with 12 girls in the 6th grade. This troop didn't have a thing to work with, nor even had any training, but Mrs. Fields had a lot of experience in club work and she did know how to organize.

In 1948, there was a total registration of 317 members and in February, 1949, there were 222 girls registered.  Springtown was organized in September, 1954, by Miss Pat Newsmith, Field Director from Brownwood, with Mrs. A. C. and Mrs. D. G. Huddleston, leaders of 14 Girl Scouts, and Mrs. W. Evans, and Mrs. R. E. Carroll of 20 Brownies.  These troops have recently disbanded.  In March, 1950, Mrs. Robert Bragg, organized three Brownie and three Girl Scout troops in Aledo.  Recent leaders have been Mesdames, B. H. Stacy, Dean Edwards, C.H. and O. R. Batchelder, and Cortez Wiley.  a colored troop was organized April 12, 1951, Troop No. 21, with eight Girl Scouts and Miss Louise Price and Miss Juanita Wright as Leaders.  Mrs. Ora Hardeman later took over.  Barbara Bradford from Miss Hackett's troop helped a lot with this group.

Today (1956) there are 17 troops with at least five adults registered with each troop and a total of around 185 girls.  A new troop of Brownies organized recently with Mrs. Wm. J. Glass as Leader are as yet not registered.  The Troops are:

Troop No. 1, Mrs. O. King, Girl Scouts

Troop No. 2. Mrs. M. F. Miller, Brownies

Troop No. 6, Mrs. Mark Littleton, Brownies;

Troop No. 7, Mrs. D. E. Upton, Brownies;

Troop No. 9, Mrs. Edgar Baker, Brownies;

Troop No.11, Mrs. A J. Barry, Senior Scouts;

Troop No. 13, Mrs. R. J. Hightower, Brownies:

Troop No.. 14, Mrs. Lynn Jones, Brownies

Troop No. 15, Mrs. Paula Renner, Brownies;

Troop No. 16, Mrs. J. W. O'Donald, Brownies;

Troop No. 17, Mrs. Peter McDermott, Girl Scouts

Troop No.18, Mrs. H. M. Gray, Brownies;

Troop No.19, Mrs. J. T. Mallory, Brownies;

Troop No.21, Mrs. Buster Coble, Girl Scouts in Wampler;

Troop No.23, Mrs. H. Woodard, Girl Scouts;

Troop No.25, Mrs. A. J. Barry, Girl Scouts,

Troop No. 29, Mrs. E. P. Rothrock, Brownies of Peaster.

The present (1956) officers of the Weatherford Girl Scout Association are:

Chairman	Mrs. Weldon Cash, a Girl Scout herself in Mineral Wells in 1928-29
Secretary-Treasurer  and Registrar	Mrs. T.W. Haley
Organization Chairman	Mrs. Paula Renner
Training Chairman	Mrs. A. J. Barry
Program Chairman	Mrs. M. F. Miller
Finance Chairman	Bob Bergman
Camp Chairman	L. D. Wilson and Mrs. W. W. Yarborough
Representative from and President of, Leaders' Club	Mrs. O. King

It would be impossible to name all the countless number of women, and men, who volunteered their services these many years in many capacities, in some cases holding more than one position, giving of their time, energy and abilities to guide the girls in the fundamental aims and ideals of Girl Scouting.  They surely are the ones who have received the richest blessings.

© 1997 -2019 Lela Evans
Last Updated on January 2019
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