Waite Phillips

Waite Phillips (Jan. 19, 1883 - Jan. 27, 1964) was much more than the prototypical oilman, wildcatter and businessman. He was also a philanthropist. The generosity of he and his family resulted in a major change for Scouting – the creation of its High Adventure Program.

Lewis “Lew” Franklin Phillips and Lucinda Josephine “Josie” (Faucett) Phillips sixth and seventh of 10 children were twin boys – Waite and Wiate -- born to the couple at their home near Conway Iowa. As 16-year-olds the twin boys left their small farm and headed west where they worked a variety of jobs including building railroads, mining, lumbering and even one winter spent fur trapping in the Bitterroot Mountains. A bout of acute appendicitis claimed Wiate’s life on July 16, 1902, when the 19-year-old young men were in Spokane, Washington. Distraught over the loss of his twin brother, Waite returned to Iowa. After a short time in college he went to work for his older brothers, Frank (Silver Buffalo recipient 1942) and L.E. Phillips, as they continued their oil and gas business out of Bartlesville, Okla., in 1906. Frank and L.E.’s company became Phillips Petroleum Company.

In 1909 Waite married Genevieve Elliott in Knoxville, Iowa. Waite and Genevieve had two children, Helen Jane (July 1, 1911 - May 19, 1963) and Elliott "Chope" Waite (January 11, 1918 - ) (Silver Buffalo recipient 1998; Silver Sage recipient 2005). After eight years Waite sold his shares to his brothers and struck out on his own as an independent oil producer, refiner and marketer. By 1918 Waite and Genevieve had moved to Tulsa, Okla., where his 40-year career took firm hold. In Tulsa three of the structures Phillips built have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places – Philtower, Philcade and Villa Philbrook, a 72-room Italian Renaissance-style home, which, after being donated to the city of Tulsa in 1938, was renovated into the Philbrook Museum of Art.

Phillips’ industriousness was not just confined to the petroleum industry. He was also actively involved in banking and real estate and the development of a number of ranches in the Rocky Mountains, and it was there his admiration for a new youth program and his love of the mountains would meld into Scouting’s crown jewel of high adventure. After buying and selling several ranches, Phillips developed a 300,000-acre spread on the eastern slopes of the Sangre de Cristo range of the Rocky Mountains extending into the western fringes of the Great Prairie. He named it the UU (Double U) Ranch. There as with all of his other business interests, he threw himself into creating a diversified operation involving farming, ranching and – for recreation – the ability to get into the backcountry for hunting, fishing and camping expeditions.

All through the times he was working for his brothers and then on his own, Phillips followed the successes of a bourgeoning youth movement – the Boy Scouts of America. One of the earliest troops in the United States was formed in 1909 (before the founding of the BSA in 1910) in nearby Pawhuska, Okla. In 1937 Phillips made one of the most magnanimous gestures in philanthropy – the family donated 35,857 acres of their UU Ranch – much of what Philmonters call “the South Country” to the Boy Scouts of America. That generous donated included the Villa de Philmonte, cattle, horses, hunting cabins and more.

There were just three stipulations:
--that it remains a working cattle ranch, which it is.
--that his favorite horse “Gus” be allowed to roam freely and live out his life on the ranch. He did.
--And that the Phillips family be allowed to visit whenever they please. They have.

The first couple of years were limited operations, but seeing the potential and the enthusiastic response in 1941 Phillips added another 91,520 acres bringing the total to 127,395. The gift included the best of Phillips’ camp lands, as well as the ranching headquarters and the Villa de Phimonte – the family’s mountainside home with its majestic view of the Tooth of Time. To help finance the annual operations of the ranch he added the Philtower Building in Tulsa.

The camp was first named Philturn Rocky Mountain Scout Camp and then later was renamed Philmont. Waite Phillips died on January 27, 1964. Waite and Genevieve Phillips are buried in Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, California. What is left unexplained about Waite Phillips is why he never received the BSA's Silver Buffalo Award.

1, OA, Profile, Scouting

OA Becomes Official Experiment

 For the first 17 years of its existence, the Order had operated autonomously. While made up exclusively of Scouts the Order did not report to the national office. The one nod to the BSA authority was the Scout Executive, the Supreme Chief of the Fire, who possessed the authority to terminate the lodge.

The national authority of the Order was the Grand Lodge and in 1932, led by Grand Chieftain Robroy Price the Grand Lodge sought recognition by the National Council of the BSA. Since the beginning of the Grand Lodge, virtually all officers had themselves been professional Scouters and Robroy Price was no exception serving as the Scout Executive in Schenectady, New York. When the Grand Council of the Order met with National Council representatives at the national BSA office in New York it was a very friendly audience. E. Urner Goodman along with past Grand Chieftain Arthur Schuck and four-time Grand Scribe Harvey Gordon represented the National Council. Also representing the BSA were Mr. McDonald, Mr. Wyland and Dr. Hurt.

The meeting went most favorably for the Order. It was decided that Dr. Huber William Hurt would be designated by the National Council to investigate the Order and that he would send questionnaires to all local lodges and prepare a report. The Order itself would also canvas local lodges to inquire about how to accomplish National Council recognition. It was also agreed that the Order of the Arrow would again be designated as an official experiment of the Boy Scouts of America for a period of one year. The process had begun that would lead to a “new relationship” between the OA and the BSA in 1934.

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Formation National Executive Committee

Grand Chieftain Thomas Cairns authorized by the Grand Lodge at the 1933 meeting formed the Transition Committee to handle negotiations required for the Order to become an official BSA program. He renamed it the Grand Lodge Committee. This committee replaced the old Grand Council that was the executive board for the Grand Lodge. Cairns placed on the committee the Grand Lodge Officers, H. Lloyd Nelson, L. J. (Bert) Case and Joseph Pattison. Recognizing the need for the very best leadership to strategize, interface and negotiate with the BSA, Thomas Cairns consulted with E. Urner Goodman and appointed three more Arrowmen to the Committee – Alfred C. Nichols, Robert S. Henderson and Charles M. Heistand. Goodman was added to the committee as the National Council representative. During the transition, this committee became known as the National Executive Committee and it is the direct precursor to today’s National OA Committee. There were two notable differences. Every member of the National Executive Committee with the exception of Nelson was a professional Scouter, whereas today’s committee is primarily volunteer leadership; And National Executive Committee members would be required to stand for election at the end of their two-year terms.

The National Executive Committee took over the role of the Grand Lodge. The Committee ran the business of the Order. No longer would elaborate meeting with parliamentary procedure dominate the national gatherings. That was a good thing too, because with the national recognition by BSA the national meetings would be too large for parliamentary debate. The time could be put to better use with training and gatherings to exchange ideas. H. Lloyd Nelson served on this committee and its successor, the National OA Committee every year until his untimely death in 1955.

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OA Becomes Official Scout Program

In 1933, the National Council (BSA) after methodical analysis concluded that programs like the OA could enhance Scouting. The OA had been assured that they would become an official Scout program.

Still to be sorted out were issues concerning the structure between the OA and BSA, methods of handling the Vigil Degree, issues regarding Arrowmen that no longer were registered as Scouts and adjustments desired by religious groups.

After many meetings, on June 1, 1934 the National Council voted to approve the OA as one of several new Scout programs. On July 15, 1934 Chief Scout Executive James West welcomed the Order as an official Scout program. There were still issues to be resolved and in the end it was determined that the National Council would not take over the Order of the Arrow. Instead, as an incremental move, the National Council agreed to charter the Grand Lodge and the structure of the Grand Lodge and local lodges would remain the same. Effective January 1, 1935, the Order of the Arrow became an official BSA Scout Program.

The OA, as a compromise agreed to change parts of their nomenclature (such as Grand Lodge to National Tribe) to satisfy various BSA concerns. It was still another 14 years before the full integration of the National BSA Council and the Order took place. Now that the OA was an official BSA program the number of councils desiring to participate increased dramatically.

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Changes in Terminology

As part of the agreement made by the OA National Executive Committee with the BSA to become an official part of the Boy Scout program the OA agreed to change certain terminology effective January 1, 1935 (although not disseminated to local lodges until April 23, 1935).

The BSA was concerned about heavy reliance on Masonic fraternal terms in the Order. So the term “lodge” which is what Masons call their local groupings was replaced with the word “tribe”. Instead of Unami Lodge and Owasippe Lodge, they became Unami Tribe and Owasippe Tribe. Likewise the Masons use of the term “Grand” to describe their highest governing body was changed to “National”. Thus the OA’s Grand Lodge would become known as the National Tribe and the Grand Chieftain would become known as the National Chieftain. Similarly, the term “Degree” became “Honor” and the term “Password” became “Admonition”. The term “Manitou” referring to a deity was completely eliminated from ceremonies, this being done to satisfy religious groups concerns.

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50th Lodge Formed

Our Order chartered its fiftieth lodges on June 17, 1930 when Cherokee Lodge 50 of Birmingham, Alabama received its charter. After taking over eleven years for Wimachtendienk to grow to 25 lodges, the Order had doubled to fifty lodges in just over three and a half.

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Goodman - First Director of Program

Goodman’s tenure as Scout Executive in Chicago ended, on April 1, 1931, E Urner Goodman became the first BSA Director of Program. Chief Scout Executive James E. West’s appointment followed Goodman's four year’s as Scout Executive in the nations largest council not directly overseen by the national office.

Program Director was an extremely high executive, one of the four division director positions (business, operations and personnel being the others) that reported directly to the Chief Scout. As Director of Program, Goodman was responsible for the establishment of the BSA’s Cub Scout and Explorer programs. He also oversaw the writing of the first Scout Field Guide.

Goodman retired in 1951 after 20 years as Director and 35+ years as a professional Scouter. At the time of his retirement, the Order was active in two thirds of all councils and virtually all other non-OA fraternal camp societies had been replaced by OA or were in great decline.

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Goodman - As Director of Program

By 1925 the BSA had outgrown its national and regional structure; each of more than 20 departments reported directly to Chief Scout Executive West. The national office reorganized in 1931, in four departments – Program, Operations, Personnel and Business.

Goodman was now one of the most experienced Scout leaders in the country. He was both a Scoutmaster from the early days and a very successful Scout Executive. West chose Goodman to head the Program Division, in which Goodman would have leadership of professional and volunteer training, relationships with Scouting’s supporting and partnering organizations, all publications except Boys’ Life, public relations and publicity, research and development, and the Boy Scout reading program.

Goodman took his talents of dealing with people and effective public speaking to a national audience. He traveled the country, meeting with national BSA officers and supporters, and advising Scout Executives.

The new director of Program knew that, to be effective, he must have a first-rate team, and he had West agree that he could choose his own staff. A staff he could trust and whose judgment he trusted carried out Goodman’s careful organization and detailed planning of events and projects.

Goodman served in this position for 20 years, until his retirement in 1951. During this time Scouting developed the Cub Scout program for younger boys and reached out to older Scouts with an expanded Sea Scouting program as well as the experimental Rover program and the development of Exploring and Air Exploring. During this time BSA helped Scouts live through the Great Depression, had the first national jamboree, acquired and developed Schiff Scout Reservation and Philturn Rocky Mountain Scout Camp (later known as Philmont Scout Ranch), adapted Wood Badge to American Scouting, produced three editions of the Boy Scout Handbook, two editions of the Handbook for Scoutmasters and the first Scout Field Book, and supported the troops and home front during World War II.

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Goodman - Adult Family Life

Goodman matched his professional success during his years in Philadelphia with personal happiness. On June 18, 1920, he married Louise Wynkoop Waygood, a local girl whom he had first dated the same week in 1911 that he joined Troop 1. Louise and Urner had three children, Theodore Wynkoop, born August 12, 1921, George Walter, born February 26, 1923, and Lydia Ann, born April 21, 1927.

Family life centered on Urner’s job, the children, and church involvement. Both Urner and Louise were talented musicians, thus the children learned to play instruments, so the family often entertained each other with music evenings. Sundays were devoted to church and family activities, including the learning of Psalms in the afternoon. The Goodmans were very ecumenical. The family moved several times while the children were growing up and, if there were no Presbyterian church in the neighborhood, they would worship at Methodist churches or Quaker meetings.

When Goodman took a job in Chicago in 1927, the winters proved too cold for George, and Louise and her mother would take Ted, George and Ann to Florida for the winter, where the children attended the Sunshine School in a thatched building on the beach.

The children were all involved in Scouts. Ted was a Boy Scout and Sea Scout, and became a member of the Order of the Arrow at Treasure Island. George was a Boy Scout. Ann was a Brownie and Girl Scout, with Louise as her leader. When Louise learned there was no Girl Scout program for African-American girls in their town, she organized one.

The family loved to take car trips and Urner bought large cars just for that purpose. A favorite outing when they lived in New Jersey while Urner was national director of program was to Schiff Scout Reservation, to visit “Uncle” Bill Hillcourt and his wife, Grace. One summer, the family traveled by train to the west, where they visited the newly acquired Philturn Rocky Mountain Scout Camp (now Philmont).

Ted and George both served in World War II. George went overseas for the invasion of Europe, and was killed in action in 1944.

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First Meeting of the Grand Lodge

In 1921 Wimachtendienk, W.W. (a common way at the time of referring to what we know as the Order of the Arrow) was ready to have a national structure. Patterned similar to the Freemasons, it was decided that each lodge would become a member of the Grand Lodge. On October 7 and 8, 1921, the first Grand Lodge Meeting hosted by the Philadelphia lodges, Unami and Unalachtigo was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and at their Camp Biddle. These meetings would later become known as National Meetings and are the distant predecessors of today’s NOACs. The first meeting was attended by eight of the eleven known lodges. The use of the term “known” was deliberate in the meeting minutes. Our young Order had spread by word of mouth. In the early days of Scouting it was common for multiple councils/camps to share the same lake. For example, in upstate New York near Tuxedo Park there were more than thirty Scout camps around the Kanohwanke Lakes including council camps for Ranachqua Lodge and Pamrapaugh Lodge. It is still not known exactly which other lodges had formed in these early years, but clearly Goodman and Edson were aware that others had formed and they had no way to contact them.

Co-founder Edson was selected to chair the first meeting. During the meeting four committees were formed. One of the committees was formed to frame the Grand Lodge Constitution. Another committee was formed to re-write and provide for further revisions of the ceremonies. Committees were also created regarding insignia and record keeping. Grand Lodge officer elections were held.

At the conclusion of the first day of the meeting the delegates traveled to Camp Biddle and held a re-dedication ceremony. The image of this ceremony is a significant historical photograph of our Order. In the image can be seen the founders in the original black robes with turtle totems. It is also the only known image that shows the three-part Third Degree (Vigil) bib sash.

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WWW Threatened with Extinction

In 1922 the BSA was 12 years old. It was still a young organization. To improve the Scout program and to train the professional corps, the BSA held Biennial National Meetings of Scout executives. In September 1922 the Scout executives gathered at the Blue Ridge Assembly near Asheville, North Carolina. During the meeting the Camp Commission released a report that raised concern about fraternal and secret organizations at Scout camps. The unease was understandable. There did exist secret societies at the time that were not in keeping with Scouting principles. Some groups involved cliques, undemocratic principals and even overtly racist foundations. So it was not unreasonable for Scout executives to have apprehension about secret societies operating in their Scout camps. The result was a motion to pass a resolution “that camp fraternities be discouraged in connection with Boy Scout camps”.

The existence of Wimachtendienk was potentially in peril. Goodman was first to rise and be recognized in opposition. He knew the great benefits possible from camp societies and told the assembled executives how a camp fraternity could “further emphasize the Scout principles and ideals in the life of boys.” He cautioned those in attendance that were unfamiliar with such groups to not automatically reject them.

Then Edson rose in defense of our Order. He said,

…for some eight seasons now I have been connected with a camp honor society which has proved of such wonderful help in the council where it was first started that it has since been organized in…other cities as well, where it is proving equally valuable.

He went on to state that,

This organization is a service organization, using the form of ceremony and symbolism which has a very definite appeal to the boy and which has proved of great value both in camp and throughout the year in the city in many of the councils of this country promoting Scouting ideals.

After further motions the original resolution was watered down to the point that it no longer affected the Order. It essentially stated that organizations that were contrary to Scouting were disapproved and even this version barely passed. This potential problem for the Order had been averted.

Following the session at the Scout executive conference, Goodman reported that members of the Grand Council (which would have included Goodman, Edson, Schuck, Carrick and others) met privately with Chief Scout James West. Goodman reported that West told them:

 

that (he) would be glad to see the work proceed under careful supervision and would be interested to mark its progress and to review the literature of the Order.

He also admonished that the Order must grow on its own merits.  And so it was, the Order would grow on its own merits,

Goodman and the Order had made a most powerful ally. West himself would be inducted in the Order in 1938 and received an inaugural Distinguished Service Award for his role in acknowledging the potential of the Order in 1922.

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WWW Becomes Official BSA Experiment

As a result of actions taken at the 1922 Scout executives Conference Wimachtendienk, W.W. and two other camp fraternities were deemed “official experiments” of the Boy Scouts of America. The other two groups, Tribe of Gimogash and Ku-Ni-Eh were active in as many or more councils at the time as WWW. Essentially this was the approval that the camp societies could continue to operate. WWW was not a part of the Boy Scouts of America. It was, however, exclusively for Scouts and had a national leadership comprised entirely of professional Scouters. This significance cannot be understated.

Becoming an official experiment was the first step of many incremental steps necessary for the Order to become Scouting’s national honor society.

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