Georgia man becomes an Eagle Scout 63 years after application

Published 12:00 pm Monday, February 8, 2016

WHIGHAM, Ga. — An 81-year-old South Georgia man is living proof that it’s never too late to chase your dreams.

Harry Persons Jr.’s pursuit was reignited when the Cairo, Georgia man discovered a box full of memories and keepsakes while cleaning his garage. He found a trunk and started rummaging through it. Inside, he discovered his badge-filled Boy Scout sash. When he picked it up, a symbol of his long-forgotten goal, his original Eagle Scout application, fell out.

Awash with nostalgia, Person looked at it and thought to himself, “I wonder if I could still get this?”

His nostalgia turned to excitement and launched him on a two-year quest to finally gain recognition as an Eagle Scout.

Persons’ quest was ultimately successful and entailed providing lots of documentation and a phone interview with the Fort Myers, Florida, Boy Scouts Board of Review. In September 2015, 63 years after his initial application, Persons received his Eagle Scout designation.

According to the Boy Scouts of America, the Eagle Scout is the highest advancement rank and most prestigious award in Boy Scouting.

On Saturday, he was the honoree at the Thunderbird District Eagle Scout Reunion and Eagle Scout Court of Honor in Whigham, Georgia.

“You hear about things like this here and there,” said Bob Norwillo, district director of the Boy Scouts of America Suwannee River Area Council, “but for the Scouts, this is very unique.”

Norwillo said Persons very possibly could be the oldest scout to receive this designation.

Longtime friend Jim Scarbrough presented Persons with his medal in front of a room packed with scouts — young and old.

Prior to the ceremony, Persons said he was a “nervous wreck.”

“I have been on pins and needles,” he said. “You can’t get any higher than an Eagle Scout.”

The award had special meaning to him because his father, H.K. Persons Sr., was also an Eagle Scout.

“My father, who has passed on, encouraged me to join the Scouts and was very proud of what I accomplished,” a teary-eyed Persons said.

“It was always kind of a competition for me to do what my dad had done and, hopefully, just a little more,” he added with a wink and a smile.

Persons blazed lots of trails as a Scout in the late 1940s and early 1950s. He pointed to the badges on his sash and explained that at Camp Flying Eagle in Fort Myers, Florida, he was the first to earn a First Class and Life Badge at the same time. He was also the youngest and one of the first in Florida to earn the God and County Award.

Persons graduated from high school when he was 17, and was scheduled to go before a Board of Review as the final step in earning his Eagle Scout badge soon after. However, classes at the University of Miami were beginning at the same time and he was unable to interview with the board.

Like with most young people, his life took him further from his dream when he took time off from college to work and got drafted into the military. After his honorable discharge, the Korean War veteran married and began a career in public relations.

He may have never given his Eagle Scout aspirations another thought if he hadn’t cleaned his garage that day.

During his presentation to Persons, Scarbrough said, “Since the inception of the Eagle Scout award in 1912, only 2.01 percent of eligible scouts have earned this honor. In 1951, when Mr. Persons should have received the Eagle Scout designation, only 1.09 percent of all scouts reached this pinnacle.”

Persons credited Scarbrough and the Scout Council in Fort Myers, among others, with giving him the encouragement to pursue this dream.

“Mr. Persons, I have no idea what words I said that urged you to pursue the receipt of this well-deserved award. I am just proud to have been a part of this honorable occasion,” Scarbrough said.

Murphy writes for the Thomasville (Georgia) Times-Enterprise.