Don Gibson Inducted into Boy Scout Hall of Fame

  Fifty eight years ago, Don Gibson made a decision to devote a significant portion of his life to teaching America’s youth the traditional values of the Boy Scouts. In recognition of his years of adult leadership with the Boy Scouts of America in Idaho and other states, Garden Valley’s Donald Wayne Gibson was inducted into the Hall of Fame, the highest honor given to a select few adult volunteers, by the Ore-Ida Boy Scout Council.

  Gibson, a resident of Garden Valley, received the Hall of Fame Award at a banquet Saturday evening, February 9, in the Simplot Ballroom of the Student Union, on the Boise State University Campus. Gibson was accompanied by his daughter, Deanna Gibson, his Eagle Scout grandson, Dillon Lawley, and other family friends.

  Ore-Ida Council Chief Executive, David Kemper, inducted Gibson into the Hall of Fame, saying, “The Boy Scouts of America would not exist without men like Don Gibson. Boy Scouts is an all-volunteer organization, devoted to teaching young boys the traditional values and high ethical standards men like Don Gibson have lived their entire lives.”

  Vandye Forrester, Gibson’s friend and Ore-Ida Council Unit Commissioner for Garden Valley and Cascade, says that to obtain eligibility for the Hall of Fame is a lengthy and challenging task, spanning many decades of Boy Scout service. He says, “To even be considered for the Hall of Fame, adult Boy Scout volunteer leader candidates must have already earned many other top service-based leadership awards, including the coveted Silver Beaver, the District Award of Merit, Wood Badge Beads, the Silver Commissioner’s Arrowhead, Scoutmaster, Troop Committee Chair, Friends of Scouting volunteer, District Training Committee, to name just a few.”

10-year-old cub, Don Gibson, poses for mom,
 at 1121 Madison Street, in
Waukesha,Wisconsin, 1946.

  To achieve this level of service takes many years; Gibson celebrated fifty-eight years as an adult volunteer Boy Scout leader on September 15, 2012. Prior to his own retirement and to congratulate Gibson for his service, then National Chief Scout Executive Robert Mazzuca, in 2012, sent a personal letter to Gibson thanking and congratulating him for his decades of selfless service to America’s Boy Scouts.

  Don is retired from the United States Government, Department of the Navy, where he was a program manager in Deep Ocean Technology, Ocean Engineering for programs the details of which are still classified, for national security reasons. He was awarded numerous Federal and Naval honors and certificates, during his career in the Department of the Navy.

  Gibson and his wife, Maudine, raised three children and helped raise four grandchildren.  Two sons and one grandson were and are Scouts. Don’s long life in Scouting began in his home town of Waukesha, Wisconsin, where his Mother was a Den Leader and his father was the Scoutmaster.

 Vandye Forrester says of his friend, “Don’s many Scout uniform knots worn proudly over his heart tell the story of five decades of loyal service. He had tears in his eyes up there on the stage, taking his well deserved place among the heavy hitters of the 5,500 adult Boy Scout leaders in Idaho.”