Highest of honors: Seven Boy Scouts from Granby, South Hadley earn rank of Eagle
Published: 01-13-2025 3:10 PM |
GRANBY/SOUTH HADLEY — Whenever 16-year-old Thomas DeWitt passed through West Street Cemetery in Granby, he noticed gravestones sunk or slumped over, each murky with grime, among fallen limbs and a decrepit shed.
The cemetery’s significance to the people of Granby and DeWitt’s own family — the burial ground includes his family relatives dating back to the 1700s — inspired Dewitt to pick up a shovel and chemicals to straighten and clean 10 of the gravestones for his Eagle Scout project as a member of Granby Troop 306.
He dug each gravestone out of its hole, applied a chemical treatment to the headstone, cleared out the opening, packed in gravel to level the ground and put the headstone back with a new layer of marble chips.
And once he started cleaning up the site, he saw more gravestones that needed straightening and cleaning, gravestones he could fix.
“The more we did, the more we said, ‘There’s another we can do,’” DeWitt said. “It ended up being about 30 gravestones. It was fun to do because you learn through every stone you do because every one is a little bit different so you learn what to do next time or how to make it faster and more efficient.”
DeWitt stop at gravestones. After seeing so many older visitors of the cemetery hobble down a steep, slippery path to get water for potted flowers from a nearby brook, DeWitt decided to remodel the old shed, adding a new roof, foundation and wall before installing a 275-gallon water tank and hand pump. Half the skills required to rebuild the shed DeWitt learned along the way, and when he wasn’t shopping for materials or researching the least aggressive chemical treatments for the gravestones, he was fundraising to cover the $7,500 for the project.
It’s DeWitt’s hard work and commitment to his community that earned him the rank of Eagle Scout, and he’s not the only young man celebrating his accomplishments this month. Just down Route 202, six South Hadley Boy Scouts from Troop 303B officially earned their Eagle Scout rank during a ceremony on Jan. 5: Beau Briere, Owen Abrams, Owen Bauman, Brendan Maloney, Dionysus Lively and Logan Howard.
DeWitt and the six South Hadley teens recently celebrated completing their Eagle Scout projects and collecting over 21 merit badges with their families, friends and community that they labored to service.
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“It’s been a long road and they did a lot of work to get here, and they’re still doing it,” said Brian Regan, the troop’s Eagle coach and assistant scout master. “They’re definitely future leaders and were very proud of them.”
Regan said that Scouts choose projects based on a place or activity they’re passionate about, and then the projects are adjusted to meet the Eagle rank requirements.
Abrams located and restored several hiking trails in Canal Park along the Connecticut River. Briere cleaned and painted many fire hydrants in South Hadley District 1. Lively built handicap ramps and bird boxes at his alma mater RK Finn Ryan Road School in Northampton. Bauman rebuilt the trail system and stairs at the Warner Conservation Area. Howard led a team to create signs for cross country teams running at Minnechaug Regional High School wooded track in Wilbraham. Maloney deconstructed and rebuilt a footbridge at Canal Park.
In addition to being part of the troop, the six South Hadley teenagers are also Sea Scouts, Regan said, doing maritime and aquatic programing in addition to lifeguard duties. In fact, Regan wrote in his speech for the Eagle Scout ceremony that Abrams served as troop senior patrol leader and ship boatswain, the Sea Scout equivalent of patrol leader, at the same time.
The Scouts have hiked the Rocky Mountains, sailed the Florida Keys, scuba dived, skiied and backpacked their way through their years, showing a love of adventure.
“Start when they’re little, it’s more about the fun and camping and adventure and things like that,” Regan said. “As they get older, they’re all challenged with responsibility to plan and lead those activities for the younger scouts. I’ve definitely seen all of them rise to the challenge.”
Regan highlighted the newest Eagle Scout’s unique achievements and personality quirks in his address, including Maloney’s famed secret handshakes with his troop, Lively’s semester studying abroad in France, Bauman’s late night philosophical thinks and Howard’s camp cooking. Each of the Scouts are young leaders in their own way, Regan said.
In addition to earning his Eagle rank, Briere was honored with a Council Certificate of Merit for rescuing a 5-year-old child who slipped under the ice of a mostly-frozen pond at Moses Scout Reservation in 2020.
“It was an extremely close call and a testament to the quick thinking of this young man, even when it meant putting himself in danger,” Regan said in his speech.
The South Hadley Scouts, as well as DeWitt in Granby, are all certified lifeguards. DeWitt works at Belchertown’s Chestnut Hill Pool and Town Beach when he’s not at scouts or school. DeWitt’s mother, Jennifer DeWitt, said she couldn’t be prouder of her son’s innate responsibility to serve his community, ambition to take on such a large Eagle Scout project and comfort with himself.
“Through his scouting career, I think he had really become more confident in himself, who he is and who he can be in the future,” she said. “He’s not shy, he’s driven, and once he’s committed, he’s all in.”
Emilee Klein can be reached at eklein@gazettenet.com.