The winds were so intense that trees were ripped up and flew through the air. The two Scouts paddling their canoe, totally disappeared. The storm was very brutal, but short.[1] A Lost Bather's Drill ensued for hours.
As luck would have it, both Scouts and their canoe ended up on top of Grape Knob[2], intact and unharmed. Barefooted, the youth portaged their canoe back to camp to the astonishment and joy of everyone. No one was injured and the damage to McKee was minor.
The Council Camping Committee decided that the 1969 Camp patch should commemorate the remarkable event and placed an order, similar to the past emblems, but without the two Scouts in a canoe and several trees missing, due to the '68 storm. However, when the patches arrived at the Council office, the current Council President didn't like them, nor the idea, and had them thrown away and personally paid for and reordered the 1969 McKee Reservation patch[3] as we know it today.
Only 2 of the "1969 No Canoe" patches are known to exist. One is in our National Museum[4] and the other recently sold[5] on eBay for a crazy low amount, because the seller didn't know what he had, and listed it wrong.
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| This patch was used from 1961 - 1968. |
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| This is the patch that was supposed to be for used in 1969. Notice the missing Scouts in the canoe and without several trees. (Actual patch; not PhotoShopped. Click the link to see it.) |
1. FEMA Website "https://www.fema.gov/disaster/237"
2. Peakery Website "http://peakery.com/grape-knob-kentucky-2/"
3. Camp McKee Website "http://www.campmckee.org/patches/1969.jpg"
4. National Scouting Museum Website "http://www.bsamuseum.org/"
5. eBay Website "http://www.ebay.com/itm/1960s-McKee-Scout-Reservation-Blue-Grass-Council-Boy-Scout-Patch-BSA-/251837692035?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3aa2b23883"
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Update:
#1 this was posted on April 1st.
#2 I used footnotes (big red flag).
The "No Canoe" patch is actually a thread break I bought off eBay a while back. As an April Fool's Day post, I included some friends.
I packaged the "No Canoe" patch in a bag with some other McKee patches. Ken Green gave them to an unsuspecting Scout.
When this post came out, Anthony Kenney promoted it on FaceBook with this to say: "I guess I still have one more McKee Scout Reservation to go. Tim Brown and Ken Green have you heard of this patch before?"
Tim Brown, the "Verify-er" had this to say: Anthony... Yes, I have heard of this 'elusive' patch. I was told the story of how the patch came to be back in the 1970's when I was a youth attending summer camp. The patch was made without the canoe and paddlers (see below). I have been looking for the patch ever since, however I didn't know that there were only two (2) made. I did finally see the patch for the first time this past December when I visited the National Scout Museum while attending the National Planning Meeting. Someone said that one of these recently showed up on Ebay, but I missed it. Do you know who purchased it?
Later in the day, I had to ask the Scout if he had any old McKee patches? He did. I asked him if he had seen my blog about the "No Canoe" patch? He had. I asked him to go look at his patches. Behold, he had one! I offered him big money for it. Guess what? He offered to give it to me for free! (Character, my friends.)
I finally broke down and said "April Fool's" and explained all of our deviousness. I told him that we loved and appreciated him for all of the good work and leadership that he provides to so many.
Now, if we adults could work as hard at Camp on Service Projects as we do on April 1st, McKee would be a better place!
