A Scout is true to his family, friends, Scout leaders, school, and nation.
Loyalty is a pillar that helped build a successful scouting, personal, and professional life for High Point's Lawson Ingram.
Ingram, now 88 years old, says scouting, "keeps me young." While advancing age prevents him from taking part in activities, Ingram remembers how scouting shaped his childhood, and how serving as a scoutmaster for 22 years created friendships that last to this day.
Ingram joined High Point's Troop 4 in 1933 at the age of 12. He was the youngest of three brothers to join the troop.
Earning his Eagle Rank at an early age as part of Troop 4 at High Point's Wesley Memorial United Methodist Church, Lawson Ingram turned his attention to serving on the camp staff at Jamestown's Camp Uwharrie. “I was the bugler before there was a PA system" says Ingram. He remembers running the camp schedule by blowing different bugle calls.
His childhood activities set his scout Loyalty roots deep. In 1962 Ingram became the Scoutmaster of Troop 4. For the next 22 years he touched the lives of hundreds of boys. With a love of the outdoors, he took the troop hiking at least a half dozen times along the Appalachian Trail. He took trips to the Smokey Mountains and he led three crews to the Boy Scouts of America's premier High Adventure Base; Philmont. "I lived Scouting," says Ingram when thinking back to the outings.
While his health prevents him from continuing such an active role, he now relishes the opportunities to visit with the boys who were in his troop. And he thinks of how the Pillars of Scouting shaped his life. "Loyal is Loyal. It's doing what's right and being loyal to family and friends."
Lawson Ingram is Loyal
