75th This area is dedicated to all Troop 54 & 55 former Scouts and Scouters
If you were an Eagle Scout, be sure to visit the Eagle Scout Alumni area too view >
Click below to donate to the Troop 55 Eagle Scout Scholarship Fund. For information on the fund, click here.
The 75th Anniversary Gala was a huge success. Read about it here:
75th Anniversary Gala News
Scoutmaster's 75th Anniversary Minute view / download >
Gala Program view / download >
Troop 55 History
A Look at the Beginnings of Troop 55
Founded in 1933, Troop 55 originally met at River Oaks Elementary School. As nearly as we can tell, the first Scoutmaster was Robert Blain, and the first Eagle Scout was Frank Bryan. As the River Oaks neighborhood grew, another group of people meeting at the school founded the Church of St. John the Divine (Episcopal) on the first Sunday of Advent, 1939. Troop 55 soon started meeting at SJD, which became the Troop’s chartered organization.
During World War II, Scouting was very popular. George Allen, Sr., the parish's first Senior Warden, became Scoutmaster during that time. By the second year of his tenure, the Troop had approximately one hundred Scouts divided into A, B, and C groups. They bought their uniforms at local department stores, including Foley’s, Battlestein's, and Sakowitz. They hiked through Memorial and camped at Camp Hudson along Buffalo Bayou. In 1944, seven Troop 55 Scouts went to Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico, where some camps were accessible only by packhorse.
From its early days, Troop 55 grew Eagle Scouts, just as it does today. In 1944, five Scouts were advanced to Eagle, the most at once in the Sam Houston Area Council up to that time. The Rt. Rev. Clinton Quin, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas, personally presented the awards; a photograph of the ceremony is displayed in the SJD Scout Room trophy case and is reprinted on the cover of this program.
Troop 55 continued to grow. For a time, it was split into Troops 54 and 55, meeting on different nights. Cub Scout Pack 55 and Venturing Crew 55, also sponsored by SJD, spread Scouting to boys 7 to 11 years old and to young men and women 14 to 20.
Seventy-five years have brought considerable change. Foley’s, Battlestein’s, and Sakowitz department stores are renamed or gone. Camp Hudson was developed into a neighborhood of homes. Troop 55 Scouts have become fathers and grandfathers themselves, and some of their sons are in the Troop.
But many important things have stayed the same. Troop 55 Scouts still seek adventure in the outdoors at Camp Strake and Philmont, and in the Caribbean, Ecuador, Africa, Europe, Canada, and Alaska above the Arctic Circle. Troop 55 today comprises some 200 Scouts and 75 adult leaders, still operating by the patrol method. Over 375 of our young men have become Eagle Scouts (120 since 2000), with many more to come.
Thousands of boys have passed through the Troop's ranks since 1933. They have hiked and camped, learned and taught, and along the way, they have become better men for their Scouting experiences with Troop 55.
Bob Gray Memorial Adult Leadership Award
This years recipients:
Mallory Agerton
John Brentin
James Flodine
Tim McDaniel
Kathleen O'Reilly
Danny Spencer
Cathy Steele
Past winners:
| 2005 | Olivia Fisher |
| Victor Makris | |
| Louise Symmes | |
| 2004 | James Cauble |
| Ruthie Kelly | |
| Gary Martin | |
| 2003 | Dean Eisemann |
| Craig Loper | |
| D. C. Toedt | |
| 2002 | Chuck Guffey |
| Linwood Newman | |
| Mary Ann Newman | |
| 2001 | Kathy Lake |
| Cyndi O'Neal | |
| Dick Yale | |
| 2000 | Ken Alexander |
| Charles Williams | |
| 1999 | Cathy Graber |
| Ned Graber | |
| David Grizzle | |
| 1998 | Jack Baber |
| Tracy Walne | |
| 1997 | Gerry Albright |
| Chase Grasty | |
| Larry McConathy | |
| 1996 | Pat Sorrells |
| Gordon Sorrells | |
| 1995 | Lee Moncrief |
| Nancy Moncrief | |
| 1994 | Lloyd Bentsen III |
| 1993 | Jim Grizzard |
| 1992 | Rick Riseden |
| 1991 | Rocky Deboben |
| 1990 | Ellis Vachon |
| 1989 | Jack M. Webb |
| Brucks E. Hall | |
| Charles Kenneth Campbell |