A Boy Scout At Heart

Forty-seven-year veteran Boy Scout leader John F. Miller smiled broadly when he talked about cooking peach cobbler in a cast iron skillet.

The 86-year-old has eaten his share of undercooked cobbler and burnt food cooked by young scouts.

But after the coals are removed from the lid of the Dutch oven containing well-cooked cherry or peach cobbler, Miller ecstatically said from his home on Thursday that no other dessert cooked outdoors can compare.

Miller, and his wife of 66 years, Jessie, moved part time to Highlands County from Ohio 22 years ago. One of the first things he did was join a local troop. Miller is a member of Troop 482 in Lake Placid.

Miller has seen many changes since he briefly joined as a scout in 1932 and as a volunteer leader in 1961.

"The boys are different," said Miller. "The boys are not as respectful as they were a few years back - to the adults or other boys. They do what they want to do and not work together."

The troop forbids electronic games when camping.

"They're going out to see nature and they want to play games on telephones and computers," said Miller. "They have all these gadgets and they want to bring them to camp."

Although standards dropped over the years, the longtime leader said the boys still learn very valuable lessons while growing into young men.

"You don't learn something and forget it," said Miller. "Once you tie a knot, you've learned it for a reason.

"You learn CPR and first aid, not just to earn the merit badge, but to help someone in a real-life situation."

Miller teaches and instills life lessons: "Sometimes you just get tired and grouchy. Everybody has faults and we have to live together, and along together."

The father and grandfather of eagle scouts said he teaches those lessons through the Scout Oath and Scout Law.

"You're trying to teach the boys to be good citizens, and at the same time, not only be trustworthy, but to do their best," said the retired mechanic.

"You can't control their lives, but you can help show them the way we live. None of us is perfect and we have to accept that."

The deacon at First Baptist Church of Lake Placid and volunteer chaplain at Florida Hospital admitted that "sometimes the boys get a little on my nerves."

"But I feel God is leading me to work with younger boys."

Since many boys don't have a male father figure at home, his wife Jessie said the boys often respect her husband and treat him as a role model.

"They look up to my husband as a man in their life," said Jessie Miller. "They're very respectful. He is firm and fair."

The World War II veteran watched the national scouting movement become more environmentally sensitive, with a goal to leave no trace when camping.

"It is good to protect the environment, but you can go too far and take the enjoyment out of the campout," he said. "You don't want to destroy trees, but you have to have a little bit of leeway."

Miller dislikes a recent Scout policy that forbids most camp and cook fires burned on the ground. Gas stoves and metal platforms regularly replace camp fire circles.

Miller misses sitting around a camp fire and talking, telling ghost stories, performing skits and even hearing a few lies.

Despite the cost and speed with which the boys grow out of clothing, the long time scout also wishes more scouts wore uniforms, rather than custom T-shirt and jeans.

"A uniform makes you part of a troop," said Miller. "If you don't have the uniform on, you fade away from being a part of the Scout Oath and Scout Law.

"You get more respect for one another and the uniform ... otherwise you're just one of the boys."