A lifetime of Scouting leads to prestigious recognition

One day, Sarah Steltenpohl, the wife of Holy Family Troop 185’s scoutmaster, stopped by her friend Bonnie Fleck’s home to ask why Bonnie’s middle son, Mark, wasn’t in the Boy Scouts.

“Mom goes, ‘His older brother didn’t care for it, so Mark won’t,'” Mark remembered.

Undaunted, Mrs. Steltenpohl suggested Mark was different and thought he might like Boy Scouts (now Scouting America with its recent name change).

Mrs. Fleck agreed, and soon, her 11-year-old son was learning knots, going camping, earning badges, making friends and being shaped by a program that’s been developing leaders and citizens since 1910.

“I loved it,” Mark said.

He loved it so much that after becoming an Eagle Scout in 1977, instead of “Eagling out,” he decided to stay involved.

“I continued to help the troop,” he said. “I was assistant scoutmaster, then scoutmaster and when my son joined, I helped with the Cub Scout pack he was with.”

His service continued locally, where he was a committee member and chair for Troop 185. He continued helping throughout the district, region and even nationally for the organization in many different roles on committees and organizational groups, all supporting Scouting.

Fifty years later, the long list of service to the Boy Scouts and his community ends with an ellipsis waiting for the next accomplishment or volunteer opportunity to be added.

Mark’s appreciation of the organization’s core values has kept him involved, and it’s why he remains involved even as the organization transitions to a new identity and broader scope of service.

“It is still about character development, giving back to the community and helping other people out,” Mark said. “That’s what we do.”

Those values are an extension of Mark’s life, which is why he was nominated for one of Scouting America’s most prestigious awards, the Silver Antelope Award.

From the nomination form: The Silver Antelope Award, created in 1942, is the National Service Territory-level distinguished award of the Boy Scouts of America, acting through the National Court of Honor. Recipients of this award are registered Scouters of exceptional character in their territory and this award recognizes their distinguished service to youth.

Among the more famous recipients of the award are President Gerald R. Ford, Gen. William C. Westmoreland, Ernie Banks, and Admiral Arleigh Burke. In all, 3,298 individuals have been awarded the honor by the Boy Scouts since its inception.

In the nomination letter, with its lengthy list of the many positions and awards Mark has received in the Boy Scouts, the individual sums up Mark’s worthiness for the award:

“I can only speak personally that his mentorship to me when I was a new and young Scoutmaster helped form and guide me into the kind of Scouter, man, and Christian that I had always aspired to be. I just didn’t know the places to get the things I needed to get there. Mark helped me find them, and I see him guide others through his great friendship and mentorship, no matter whom you are or what you are doing. Inside of Scouting, and I am sure outside of Scouting as well. That is just who he is and how he uses his talents.”

And finally:

“Mark is one of those kinds of gentleman whose service is hard to measure, as he doesn’t speak of his service to others or the things he does for others. He is most deserving of this recognition, and we are happy to submit this nomination of this fine Scouter.”

When he learned he had been named to receive the recognition at the National Council held in Orlando, he was shocked. “I was like, ‘What?'” he said. “I was just speechless.”

He went home to tell his wife about the award when the realization that his peers thought so highly of him, as well as his mom’s impact on his life, brought him to tears.

“Knowing how this all came about,” Mark said, “that my mom always supported me, my dad did too, but her support …”

He trails off for a moment.

“I don’t stay in scouting for recognition or the awards,” Mark said. “It’s nice to be awarded sometimes, I’m not gonna lie, but that’s not why I do it.”

Mark’s service would be nearly impossible to measure by the number of boys and adults he’s helped mentor through Scouting; there are just too many.

But a few stand out.

“My little brother’s an Eagle Scout, my son’s an Eagle Scout and in the fall my grandson is eligible to join Cub Scouts, and I am already politicking him to join,” Mark said. “It should be fun. I’m gonna take him camping.”

Mark grew up in Jasper and now lives near the Dubois County 4H Fairgrounds and Park with his wife, Sherry. The pair is active in their church and in the community.