Boy Scout Troop 888 Honors 100th Eagle Scout

Dave Nash received his Eagle Scout ranking

in ‘Court of Honor’ ceremony

By Chuck Gibson

LOVELAND, OH (November 9, 2021) – Eagle Scouts past and present turned out at the Loveland Presbyterian Church (LPC)Sunday, November 7, to witness the “Court of Honor” ceremony officially presenting Dave Nash with his Eagle Scout ranking making him the 100th member of Boy Scout Troop 888 to achieve the Eagle rank.

Boy Scout Troop 888 is sponsored out of LPC and was chartered in 1958. The troop was just nine boys when it started – three were 13 year olds and the other six were just 12 at the time. One of those was 13 year old Jim Poe who would become Eagle Scout #1 for Troop 888 on November 5, 1961. Fast forward 60 years and two days and there was Jim Poe, the first Eagle Scout of Troop 888 on hand to witness Dave Nash, Eagle Scout #100 during the “Court of Honor” ceremony in the sanctuary of the Loveland Presbyterian Church. It was a little different than that first one all those years ago.

“Because I was the first one, they had no idea what to do,” said Poe.

 It was a new troop; just in the third year with a leader named Bill Miller who was an Eagle Scout.

 Poe thought that was “pretty cool” and Miller worked with him to get his merit badges ultimately leading to him becoming the first to achieve the Eagle Scout ranking from the troop.

“Bill helped me out quite a bit,” Poe explained. “When it came to the ‘Court of Honor’, we didn’t even know how to have one. They found someone at the Dan Beard Council office. They brought this guy out, I’ll never forget him and he looked like Dan Beard, dressed in buckskin; I mean he was neat. I found out later he was a World War I veteran.” 

The whole ceremony was done by him. They didn’t even have the Eagle Scout medal for Poe that day. They used Bill Miller’s medal and Poe finally received his medal a couple months later.

That was then, this is now. Boy Scout Troop 888 knows how to hold a “Court of Honor” to present the Eagle Scout ranking to one who earns it. Sunday, an honor guard presented colors to signal the beginning of the ceremony. Many Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts and family on hand were recognized, stood and gave the scouting oath. Likewise, Eagle Scouts on hand were called to stand and be recognized. They gave their name and the year they achieved the ranking of Eagle Scout. It was a very touching moment to witness. Among the Eagle Scouts recognized was Charlie Nash, proud father of Dave Nash.

“It’s a culmination of adventures and activities and achievements over the last 11 years,” Charlie Nash said. “Being a scout is one of those things, once you’re a Eagle Scout, you’re an Eagle Scout for the rest of your life. So achieving it . . . it’s one of the first things like that you can achieve before the end of high school.”

Charlie Nash pointed to graduation from high school and college as the same type of achievement. Comparing Eagle Scout to those, he put it in a special class of achievements his son will carry throughout his life. He was able to see his son work through all the merit badges and ultimately complete the Eagle Scout project which is part of the requirements to achieve the rank.

“It was good to see Dave reach the culmination of growing up, learning how to organize and lead people and take on a big project,” said Charlie. “Eagle projects are on par with most types of project you do as a professional person too.”

Dave’s project involved all of the organization, paperwork, permissions, planning and leading the work typically involved in those professional projects to which his dad made reference. Ultimately, he proposed, planned, and executed the work to improve the public garden on the grounds of Loveland Presbyterian Church.

“It’s the public garden and a lot of the people using it are more elderly,” Dave Nash explained. “We were thinking we should improve it.”

The grounds were “mushy” due to moles and rain. Nash proposed a plan to pave it with a better base and crushed stones to reduce the moles and weeds while firming up the main pathway within the garden. He also added increased the paver pathway from where it stopped at the entrance to now extend into the garden making it more handicap accessible. That also allowed the building of handicap accessible standing planters as well. Beginning in about March, he did a lot of planning over a 90 day period.

“May is when we actually started digging and building,” said Nash. “I’m thinking early June is when we finished. When we first finished it, growing season was really starting up. People didn’t hesitate to start planting in the planters. I think it turned out beautiful.”

Just as David Nash felt the project turned out beautiful, a gathering of scouts and their families turned his “Court of Honor” ceremony into a beautiful moment. His grandmother Patricia Kolojeski, his mom Marnie, dad Charlie, and siblings: brother, Moss and sister, Leslie Nash were there. During the ceremony, Dave was joined by Charlie and Marnie Nash and in a joyous moment placed a pin on his father and his mother exchanging smiles and a warm embrace with his proud parents. In closing the “Court of Honor” ceremony, Dave said a few words of his own. He thanked many people and recalled some special moments. He especially recognized the sacrifices made by his parents to help him on the path to achieving the rank of Eagle Scout. The achievement and ceremony was not lost on his mother.

“It was very exciting,” said Marnie Nash. “He’s been in Scouts for 12 years. We are a Scout family. The other two are Girl Scouts, Adventure Scouts, Boy Scouts; I was a Girl Scout, Charlie was a Boy Scout. That was big. I know he always thought about it when he was younger, but it grew as he got older.”

He went through with it. His mom, all of his family, his fellow Scouts all had the opportunity to see him grow. It holds a special place for his mom to watch him in action as he led the way on his Eagle project.

“Just wonderful leadership skills,” she said. “It was really exciting to see him in action.”

Not only that, but they knew along the way the possibility existed he might just be the 100th Boy Scout from Troop 888 to achieve the rank of Eagle Scout. That is exactly what happened only making the day that much more special Sunday.

“We knew that and wondered if that would be you,” Marnie Nash said, “and it worked out that it was.” 

So it is 99 Eagle Scouts from Troop 888 later, Dave Nash became the 100th Eagle Scout for the troop. It was 60 years and two days after Jim Poe was the first

“I guess my biggest feeling was: What took so long,” Poe asked with a hardy laugh. “It took 60 years. That’s only one and a half Eagle Scouts a year.”

A lot has changed in those 60 years. A formal project was not even required when Poe earned his Eagle rank, but they still had to achieve the 21 merit badges same as today. Scouts did a lot more community service type work before the many government agencies of today took over some of those services. Now, scouts propose, plan, and lead a special Eagle Project to help out the community in a special way. Charlie Nash said achieving the rank of Eagle Scout is one of those things that is with you for a lifetime. Jim Poe hopes it is something Dave Nash will use to share with other scouts throughout his lifetime.

“I would say stay with it,” said Poe. “Continue in scouting.”