This week’s unknowns bring us back to Camp Craig. The photo is from 2006 and is one of a large collection of 2006 photos that we don’t have names for. In fact, we don’t know who took the photos either. If you were on Craig staff in 2006 and want to help us out with some names, let us know!
In the meantime, who are these two gentlemen hanging out in Craig’s basement?
From a collection of 2006 staff photos, possibly by Ian Weir.
Grimes Canoe Base Dedication
Every now and then it is good to showcase a photo from the Archives that is not JUST Boxwell. As we have mentioned before, we have a variety of photos that come from Middle Tennessee Council! Thus, this week is Grimes Canoe Base. This is a photo of base’s dedication in 1976. Not much to explain here, just a nice little vision of another part of the Middle Tennessee Council Empire.
To the right is Council President Jimmy Stevens and to the far left is Council Executive Hershel Tolbert. Tolbert, of course, took over after Akers was forced to step down. The older man in the middle is none other than Grimes himself: Glenn Springer “Dick” Grimes. Grimes worked for the Tennessee Highway Department for 27 years, building bridges and maintaining roads. In 1976, Grimes and his wife Marie (we assume the woman here), donated 32 acres of land on the Buffalo River to Middle Tennessee Council–what became known as Grimes Canoe Base.
Some random fun facts, Marie Grimes was the first and only postmaster of Flatwoods, TN, just down the road from Linden, where Grimes Canoe Base is located. Willie Claude, former ranger at Boxwell, helped build Grimes and became one its first rangers.
The Big Wigs at Grimes Canoe Base’s Dedication in 1976
This week’s Naming the Unknowns comes from the 1991 Mardi Gras Parade. The parade started at Stahlman and then migrated to Craig. Both camp staffs and various troops participated. Tom Willhite and Ralph Walker (Stahlman Program Director) even led the parade!
The people pictured here are all Stahlman staff, but we don’t know who they are. Obviously, they are Stahlman staff in 1991. Beyond that, we don’t know much.
So, who are these folks? Any background you can provide on them?
Three Stahlman Staff Members participate in the 1991 Mardi Gras parade. Who are they?
Always good to pass on some good news about one of our own. Joe Tomasso was a Parnell-Craig staff member from 1967 to 1975.
Ennis E. Murrey
One of the names that has faded into history at Boxwell is Ennis E. Murrey. While it is well-known that E. B. Stahlman was head of the Nashville Banner and Leslie G. Boxwell ran a culvert company, Murrey is a virtual unknown.
Murrey got involved in the banking business back in 1905 and organized a mortgage company in 1935. He was involved in several local Christian organizations, including the YMCA, Scarritt College (now defunct), and the Methodist Church.
In terms of Scouting, he was treasurer of the Council for 25 years, a member of the Executive Committee for 35 years, and a recipient of the Silver Antelope and Silver Beaver. The 1957 Class of Eagle Scouts was named for him as well!
Camp Murrey, one of the Old Hickory Boxwell’s original camps, was named for Murrey and his son, Ennis E. Murrey, Jr., another Council Treasurer.
[Note: The biography and the photo here both come from the 1958 Eagle Banquet Program. The Program is part of the K. C. Hardcastle, Jr. Papers found in the Tennessee State Library and Archives: http://www.tn.gov/tsla/history/manuscripts/findingaids/89-010.pdf]
Portrait of E. E. Murrey from the 1958 Eagle Banquet program. This is a digital copy of a microfilm photo, hence the quality. The image itself can be found in the K. C. Hardcastle, Jr. Papers in the Tennessee State Library and Archives.