Mar 18, 2011 By Patty Yauger 4 min read

CONNELLSVILLE – For 95 years the Boy Scouts have prepared young men for adulthood and on Sunday current and past members of Connellsville Troop 101, along with family and friends of the local founder and first scoutmaster, will gather to pay tribute to him and those that followed in his footsteps.

Throughout his life, R. Clark Witt guided many young people, according to family members, who also heeded his message of honor and duty to God, their family and country.

“He has inspired many people,” said Todd Reagan, Witt’s grandson, as he and other family members recently recalled the influence of the family patriarch.

At the age of 2, Witt lost his mother and shortly thereafter the family moved from Casselman in Somerset County to Connellsville, where work was available for his carpenter father.

The family joined the First United Brethren Church, now Otterbein United Methodist Church.

The church affiliation later played a key role after the Boy Scouts organization was introduced in the U.S. in 1909 by William D. Boyce.

Witt became a member of The Society of the Sons of Daniel Boone, said the Rev. Geary Witt, grandson and Scout Troop 101 leader and Eagle Scout.

“The Boy Scouts later absorbed the Sons of Daniel Boone,” said Geary Witt. “So he was a Boy Scout before there was Boy Scouts.”

His ties to the church, including his service as a lay pastor and Sunday School teacher, and the similarities of the fledgling Scout organization stirred R. Clark Witt’s interest in the program.

Grandson Kym Snyder said that in the application for a local troop, R. Clark Witt noted that the Scouting organization would be a continuation of the church and an outreach to the community’s young boys.

“His emphasis was to reach the boys spiritually,” said Snyder. “And, to offer them life skills.”

The church pastor, the Rev. J.S. Showers, aided his son-in-law by permitting the church to be the Scout troop sponsor.

Since Connellsville Troop 1 was chartered, it has continued to meet at the now-Otterbein church. Now, Troop 101 is recognized as the oldest troop in the Fayette-Westmoreland Council and one of the oldest in the nation.

According to troop history, 13 boys were listed as charter members and R. Clark Witt, the Scoutmaster.

The troop grew rapidly and during the summer of the troop’s first year, the first camp was conducted. Oftentimes, said family members, he would take the Scouts hiking to introduce them to the outdoors and allow them to hone their camping skills.

Snyder has very fond memories of his grandfather.

“He was always very loving and supportive of his family,” he said. “He laid a loving foundation for his family.”

Snyder, also an Eagle Scout, continues the tradition of Scouting with his two sons.

Geary Witt said that it was a family practice to be a Boy Scout and when he and his brother, Barry Witt, pastor of the Faith Bible Church, reached the appropriate age, they were enrolled by their father.

“We were very familiar with the Scouts and had visited the camps before we were old enough to join,” he said.

“Our dad came home one day with the uniforms and we were taken to a meeting where we were enrolled.

“Granddad was wonderful; we were fortunate enough to have him as our Scout leader for a few years.”

As the Scouting organization grew over the years, R. Clark Witt was selected to serve in several capacities, including Scout Commissioner. However, he loved the work he did at the local level, said Geary Witt.

“He was a firm believer that every boy should be a part of Scouting,” he said. “If a young boy was unable to afford the uniform or the cost to go to camp, he would personally provide for him.

“He never wanted it to be out of the reach of anyone.”

While it is likely R. Clark Witt touched the lives of many young men, he also was a role model for his descendants, said Reagan.

“He had a goal of making a difference in a boy’s life,” he said. “He was a great man of God; a spiritual man and a man who believed in service to his community.

“I am a Christian today because of my grandfather.”

The family has established the R.C. Witt Fund to continue the work set in motion by him.

“We’ve sent many kids to camp that couldn’t go,” said Reagan. “We do it to honor our grandfather and to enable the troop to continue.”

A reception to celebrate the 95th anniversary will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Otterbein United Methodist Church, located on Lincoln Avenue.

Reagan said that the oldest surviving troop Eagle Scout, Melvin Fletcher, will join in the afternoon reception.