Scouting crosses generations
Published 6:00 am Saturday, December 21, 2002
What do a sixth-grader and a septuagenarian have in common?
Plenty, it turns out.
Intermediate school student Katie Donais and island senior Mary Huff – introduced through Odyssey Multiage Program’s community service project at the Bainbridge Island Senior Center – have built a friendship that began with a shared commitment to scouting.
The pair found common ground in the first of five meetings of students with seniors, because Donais had brought her Girl Scout Troop 3230 vest to share.
“When Katie pulled her vest from the paper bag, I felt an immediate connection,” said Huff – who was in Troop 1, formed in 1934 as the first Girl Scout troop on Bainbridge Island – and who ran the first Girl Scout day camp at Fay Bainbridge State Park.
“I never had all those badges,” Huff said. “She’s just loaded with them…”
The conversation about scouting easily turned into the interview that was Donais’ school assignment.
Donais and fellow students interviewed Huff and other seniors, including Phoebe Smith, Ed Breitwieser, Earl and Luella Canreidht, Betty Falk and Vera Zellanack. Odyssey parent volunteers Molly Clawson and Cher Vreiling coordinated the BISC meetings with senior center activities director Barbara McGilvray.
The conversations were among several service-oriented “mini-classes” that Odyssey and home school students undertook in five weekly, 90-minute meetings.
The service projects, developed by the students’ parents, ranged from knitting hats and headbands for Russian children at Camp Siberia to maintaining Commodore’s garden and playground, and working at a teen shelter in Mount Vernon.
“This is the first year we’ve done a community service project for an extended period of time, instead of sort-term,” service program co-coordinator Jing Fong said. “The project supports the program’s mission to nurture these kids to be good citizens. We wanted them to understand the benefits of volunteering.”
One of the pluses for Donais, she says, has been hearing tales of island life.
Huff shared with Donais her memories of walking to school through the snow and of Christmases shaped by the family’s Norwegian roots.
She told Donais about coming of age during World War II, when she jitterbugged on a battleship. Huff also shared anecdotes from her days as head nurse at Messenger House and at Harborview Medical Center.
Her winter memories became material for a seasonal banner crafted by Odyssey fourth-graders Tim Buxton, Zak Vrieling and Holden Willingham and hung at the Senior Center, along with banners the students made about other seniors.
Huff, who turns 80 on Dec. 31 and can still stand for six hours making the “lefsa” she calls “Norwegian tortillas,” also shared with students her current interests in church activities and reading.
“I’m the kind of person who flows with things,” Huff said. “I’m not stuck. I’m interested in the symphony and in the Chorale. But I don’t dance any more.”
The interview process turned out to be a two-way street. Huff drew from Donais the teen’s accomplishments as a writer, musician and dancer, and her ambition to pursue dance professionally.
“She’s so focused on her dance,” Huff said, “and she likes to write. I think that’s great, that self-expression.”
Both also like to read.
Donais, who had already worked with Messenger House seniors for a Girl Scout service project, said that personal contact with community elders has helped her see older people as unique individuals.
“Especially here (at BISC), where it’s like ‘grandma and grandpa,’” Donais said.
Perhaps because Huff has a teen granddaughter and Donais’ step-grandparents, with whom the teen is close, live in California, the friendship has shades of an inter-generational family tie. Both said they are sad the project is nearly done.
“Well, it’s going to be hard to say goodbye,” Huff said. “I’ll tell you, when I see these kids, I think they’re our hope for the future.”
