Not many lodges make it 50 years, let alone 75. Based in eastern South Dakota, northwest Iowa, and southwest Minnesota, Tetonwana Lodge is 76 years old. Tetonwana Lodge was founded in the year 1937 by John Bibby, from Brookings, South Dakota, who had been inducted into the Order of the Arrow while on a canoeing expedition at the Region Ten Canoe Base, which is now known as the Charles L. Sommers Canoe Base. Bibby wished to bring the Order back with him to eastern South Dakota. Since then, Tetonwana Lodge has seen its fair share of success, fame, and politics.
How success within the Order is measured is subjective. Some consider continuous membership gain to be a sign of success. If that's the case, then Tetonwana Lodge is not successful. Tetonwana has been maintaining a humble size of about 350 members in recent years, but it has also seen membership in larger numbers especially in the 90s and early 2000s, which was a time when membership peaked at about 600.
Success and fame in the Order is sometimes measured by the number of regional and national officers to which a lodge has been home. Tetonwana Lodge has been home to one region chief, Roger Hoyme, the 1978-1980 North Central Region chief, and one national chief, Jeff Hayward, the 2004 chief. In the year 1978, the Sioux Council, which at the time covered southeast South Dakota, absorbed Pheasant Council, which covered northeast South Dakota. Along with the councils, the Order of the Arrow lodges also changed. Pheasant Council's lodge, Lyatonka Lodge, was absorbed by Sioux Council's lodge, Tetonwana Lodge. Lyatonka Lodge was the home lodge to Clyde Mayer, the current national OA director, before it was absorbed by Tetonwana Lodge.
Traditions are often lost and feelings are often hurt when lodges merge or are absorbed and the Lyatonka/Tetonwana absorption was no exception. As a result of the absorption, Pheasant Council's resident camp, Camp Lyataka, near Wilmot, South Dakota, was slowly shut down, and as a result it was not used as a primary venue for lodge Conclaves. The ceremonial procedures of Lyatonka Lodge were no longer with the location for which they had been designed, and the traditions found in the way Lyatonka Lodge held its ceremonies was lost. Tetonwana Lodge, at that point, held its annual spring Conclave at Lewis and Clark Scout Camp, near Tabor, South Dakota, the Sioux Council's residents camp, and its annual fall Conclave at one of two council camps, Camp Shetek, near Currie, Minnesota and Newton Hills, near Canton, South Dakota. As a result of the absorption, Camp Lyataka was inserted into a three camp rotation with Newton Hills and Camp Shetek, thus reducing its ceremonial usage to lodge ceremonies once every three years and to small calling-out ceremonies by troops or at district functions.
As with almost all lodge mergers/absorptions, feelings were hurt when Tetonwana Lodge and Lyatonka Lodge merged. The absorption was a sudden move, and many individuals refused to take part in Order of the Arrow functions that fell out of the former territory of Lyatonka Lodge. It took many years for those from Lyatonka Lodge to become active within Tetonwana Lodge, and there are still hard feelings about the absorption today even though the absorption happened over 30 years ago. However, this is not something new to the Order of the Arrow, and it is something that has happened to many lodges throughout the OA's nearly 100 years of existence. Traditions have still formed since then even in the midst of mixed emotions, namely the campership program started in 1991.
A campership is a fairly simple program. Money is raised for Scouts to go to camp. This money is put into a scholarship fund known as a campership fund. The money is then distributed to the Scouts who meet the requirements designated by the organization that issues the campership. Tetonwana Lodge began a campership program in 1991. To raise the money for the campership, a council strip is designed and created each year and then is sold at a price of $10 per patch. To help pay for the council strips, a walking stick also known as the spirit stick is auctioned off at the lodge's annual winter banquet. All proceeds go directly towards paying for the creation of the patches and the winners of the spirit stick are allowed to add one item onto the spirit stick. After a certain amount of years, a new spirit stick is created and the old one is placed into the Sioux Council's museum which is called the "Scouter's Attic." Not all traditions are based in dance teams, ceremonies, or conclave activities. Some traditions find roots in a legacy of cheerful service. This is especially true in lodges that cover large amounts of land but contain few members.
In its 76 years of existence, Tetonwana Lodge has followed the constantly changing course of society fantastically. From being the home of a national chief to dealing with a territorial split, Tetonwana has seen its share of fame, drama, politics, and all around its fair share of the Brotherhood we know as the Order of the Arrow.
Gerald Fraas Lodge Ledger