May 21,
1935, the Idaho Falls Post Register reported that 16-year-old Kenneth Speas was among those
selected to attend the 1st National Boy Scout Jamboree, the
largest gathering of Boy Scouts ever, with 30,000 Scouts coming to Washington
DC from all over the world on August 21, 1935.
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| The Teton Peaks Council Delegation Selected to Attend the World Jamboree 1935 |
Each scout
was responsible for his own travel expenses, due before departure, and there were only three short
months to earn the money. The large Speas family of 10 had a tight budget, just covering expenses from month to month. Dennis, Kenneth’s youngest brother, was proud to relate
how the entire Speas family worked together, hoeing beets throughout the summer,
earning money to make this dream come true for Kenneth.
Funds
from this cooperative effort exceeded their goal, and the bonus money was used
to purchase a bicycle for the siblings to share.
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| Quentin, Dennis, Maxine, Rex and Veda take turns riding the bicycle of '35. |
As they rode up and down the
street in Woodville, the Speas children knew that blessings
come to families who work together on a common goal.
Unfortunately,
the very first Boy Scout Jamboree became known as the Jamboree that wasn’t, due to a serious
outbreak of infantile paralysis, the disease we now call polio. Health and government
authorities and the BSA agreed that holding a Jamboree that year presented
unreasonable risk and was a bad idea.
On what would have been the beginning
day of the jamboree in Washington DC, President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave his keynote speech on the radio, broadcast
from the White House. You may enjoy the President’s 9-minute speech here:
The
listening audience included millions of scouts, their families, scout
leaders and supporters. I like to picture the Speas family gathered around the radio,
Kenneth shushing his younger siblings as he strained to hear. He must have been
devastated that he was home in Woodville instead of lined up for review by President Roosevelt on
Constitution Avenue.
And yet, all was not lost. In spite of the great disappointment of the cancelled jamboree, the scouting principle of service
President Roosevelt spoke of had become more than a theory, indeed it had become an invaluable lifelong habit of the Speas children from Woodville:
“Scouting is essentially and clearly a program for the development of that unselfish, cooperative attitude of mind. Scouting revolves around not the mere theory of service to others but the habit of service to others.”
Kenneth
and his scouting friends did eventually find their way to Washington DC, as
evidenced by this photograph taken at Mount Vernon, perhaps that year or maybe two years later when the jamboree was finally held.
The lessons learned in the summer of 1935 remained deeply embedded in the hearts of this family. Fast forward many years to the home of
Kenneth’s sister, Coila.
Coila's greatest talent was being a mother, and as such she put the thoughts, feelings, and desires of her family ahead of her own.
Her fourth child, Marsha dearly wanted a
bicycle that was hers, not a hand-me-down three times over. During her fourth-grade
year, in desperation she answered a newspaper want-ad for a used bicycle for
$5.00. I will leave it to your imagination what the $5.00 bicycle looked like
when her father helped her bring it home in the back of his Anderson Lumber
Company pickup truck.
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| Marsha on her $5 bike with her dog Fritz in the basket. |
With an elementary school caliber spray paint application, the rusted
chrome fenders turned blue, and she was satisfied, if not elated, to have transportation
that was all hers. As time progressed, however, and Marsha entered junior high school,
and then high school, the reclaimed bicycle became somewhat of an
embarrassment.
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| Coila |
The bicycle was great; but pales in comparison to her love and sacrifice which will never be forgotten. The greatest tribute to the Speas family legacy would be to continue a tradition of service, cooperation, sacrifice and love.
