No, not Papa TriSec. Breathe easy for now.




It's not been a good day for your Loyal TriSec.

Returning home from my ailing father's bedside, I find that Javi's "Scout Grandpa" has gone to get a cup of coffee at that Great Campfire in the Sky.

I'll let his son, our Scoutmaster Steve Sookikian tell it...




I had the pleasure of knowing "Vee" for about his last dozen years or so. You may have heard me tell the tale of his skills with a peculiar scout skill called "Fire by Friction". I witnessed with my own eyes him lighting a fire by that method in mere seconds; faster than I can do it with a match. But I digress.

I remain grateful to Vee for just one sentence he spoke to me back at my very first scout camp with the troop, back in 2013...coincidentally, the last year Vee spent up at summer camp with the troop.

2013 was Javi's second year as a Boy Scout, part of the crosstown Troop 250. It was a disastrous year for us; the troop was poorly-run, one of my graduates was injured in a game, and a lot of the parents were horrified and dropped out. The only reason Javi and I stayed is because of all our fundraising efforts, summer camp was already bought and paid for that season. Indeed, after returning from camp, we jumped ship and went around the corner to our current Troop 248 and never looked back.

At that week of camp, I had the opportunity to spend several days teaching the Scoutmaster Fundamentals course. Vee sat in on all the sessions, despite having more scouting knowledge in one nose hair than I had gathered in all of my years of experience.

At the end of the course, he pulled me aside and told me that "I thought you did alright." Coming from him, it was like Baden-Powell himself had blessed my class. I spent the rest of that week walking on clouds, and have remained forever grateful for that wee sentence of encouragement.

Rest easy, Vee. You've earned it. We'll meet again by the Council Fire one day.