The second Legacy of Servant Leadership Lifetime Achievement Award was bestowed on Carl M. Marchetti, M.D., at the 2004 National Order of the Arrow Conference (NOAC) at Iowa State University. At that time, Marchetti had been a registered Scouter for more than 58 years, and a member of Na Tsi Hi Lodge, Monmouth Council, Oakhurst, New Jersey.
Dr. Marchetti was a charter member of Chinchewunska Lodge in 1949 at the age of 15. He sealed his membership in the Brotherhood a year later. He is an Eagle Scout and also earned the Explorer Silver Award. He was the first Vigil Honor member of Chinchewunska Lodge serving three years as lodge chief. In 1956 he was elected area chief, which brought him on to a national stage.
Marchetti was the youth lead of shows at the 1956 NOAC at Indiana University. One of the shows featured a recreation of the first OA ceremony. For that project, he consulted with E. Urner Goodman who gave him some advice: “Enjoy yourself, work hard, but watch out.” It was at this NOAC that Goodman gave Marchetti the red National OA Committee sash that Marchetti, and every Lifetime Achievement Award recipient since him has worn during the award ceremony.
Marchetti received the Distinguished Service Award (DSA) in 1958. In 1958 and 1960, Marchetti served as the Administrative Assistant to the OA National Executive Secretary. In 1962, he became the youngest member of the National OA Committee. Soon after his appointment he became involved with the Order’s financial matters. In 1974, he began the watershed movement to establish the OA as a self-funding program of the BSA. He served as the Order’s finance chairman and gave leadership to the creation of the OA Trust Fund. At the 1977 National Jamboree held at Moraine State Park, Vice Chairman Marchetti helped supervise the youth staff subcamp. This new area of responsibility meant that the Order of the Arrow oversaw not only the Service Corps, but also all youth staff—600 to 800—at the jamboree.
A former council president of Monmouth Council in Oakhurst, New Jersey, Marchetti is a recipient of the Silver Beaver, Antelope, and Buffalo (1990) awards, the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award (1991), and the Alpha Phi Omega National Distinguished Alumni Key. He received his M.D. from New York Medical College in 1960.
While chairman of the National OA Committee, Dr. Marchetti worked to make a one-year term of office for the national officers.
That made us build the entire program of treks, Indian seminars, jamborees, and strategic planning sessions so that the youth who were elected in an off-conference year would have something to do
Those decisions led to more youth participating on a national level and turning the Order into a truly youth-led organization. “The Order of the Arrow program used to be a program for boys, it is now a program by boys,” he said.
Dr. Marchetti made the decision, as Chairman, to broaden the base of the National OA Committee, bringing in a “new generation” of younger leaders, and firmly committing the committee to its emphasis on youth leadership development. He paved the way for many on the committee to serve in the capacities they do today. He is the one who first made it possible for youth leaders from the Order to serve on other national committees of the BSA.