Event commemorating centennial held on October 12 Boy Scouts of America (BSA) Troop 23 in Cleveland celebrated its 100th year on Saturday, October 12, at First United Methodist Church downtown. The event was attended by around 150 people of all ages, many of whom came from out of state for the special centennial observance. Rogers Varner, who was Scoutmaster for BSA Troop from 1989 to 2009 — following in his own father’s footsteps, longtime Scoutmaster, H. Rogers Varner, Sr. — joined  Troop 23 in 1964. Varner was in charge of reaching out to former members of the troop about the event,  as well as gathering up old camping accouterments to bring to display. “I spent a total of about 30 years total with the troop—some of the best years of my life. “It was a great gathering, for sure,” continued Varner. “We had one gentleman named Frank Hytken, now in his 80s, who flew all the way to the event from his home in Dallas. He had joined the troop in 1957 but his family moved from Cleveland to somewhere in Kentucky, where he became an Eagle Scout. Frank was from one of the many Jewish families here in Cleveland at the time and his family owned a clothing store downtown right across the street from my family’s office.” Varner said he has nothing but fond memories of his time in BSA Troop 23 and that last Saturday’s event was very special to him.  “One thing that always struck me about my time in Troop 23 was remembering how we could, literally, run on fumes. We never needed a ton of money to have fun, to learn and, of course, to camp on the riverside, sometimes for three days. The expenses we needed were almost negligible,” said Varner. During Saturday’s celebration, former Troop 23 Scouts, Matt Wiggins, associated with Troop 23 in the 1960s-70s, and Wes Wilkes, a member in the 1990s, shared many humorous memories and valuable life lessons from their time as a Scout. “Matt is back in Cleveland now, of course, as owner of The Warehouse after a successful career in legal publishing and Wes is a well-known flight pilot and Boeing 737 instructor. Both men spoke on how the Boy Scouts helped them succeed in their later lives and careers,” said Varner. “It was very inspiring.” Candy Davis, the Cub Master of Pack 23, the feeder group into BSA Troop 23, as well as a committee member for the troop, agreed that Saturday’s event was very special. “Both of my sons, Judd and Austin, went through BSA Troop 23 where they became Eagle Scouts, and I’ve been very involved with local scouting for the past 31 years,” said Davis.  Davis said that people attended from Nashville, Chattanooga, Mobile, Florida and Texas to come to the event. “And our emcee, Bob Reed, did a fabulous job sharing many great memories of the troop and acknowledged the special people in attendance,” she added. At the celebration, a Merit Badge