Scouts raising $100,000 for memorial building

Jack Ward, a Dexter native, played a big role at Camp Lewallen as health officer. His death in 2000 motivated friends and Scouting supporters to form the Jack Ward Memorial Building Fund for construction of a new administrative building at Camp Lewallen where Southeast Missourian

The Boy Scouts are more than halfway to the goal for funding a new administration building at Camp Lewallen in honor of longtime scoutmaster and adviser Jack Ward.

Tim O'Donnell of America St. Louis Council said $60,000 has been raised so far. About $100,000 is needed to construct the building that serves as the camp's business office during the summer months.

According to O'Donnell, the new building will replace a structure built more than 50 years ago. The goal is expected to be met by June through contributions by businesses and individuals who knew Ward and benefited from his contributions to Boy Scouts.

Ward's involvement in scouting began in 1956 when he became an assistant scoutmaster. He served as scoutmaster, explorer adviser and as lodge adviser for the Scout's national honorary camping society.

Ward, a Dexter, Mo., native, was a U.S. postal carrier. He took his vacations to serve as health officer at Camp Lewallen, located outside Greenville in Wayne County.

"This was not a short-term thing for Jack. The positive reputation that Scouting has in Southeast Missouri is due in no small part to him," said Michael Keathley, a member of the Jack Ward Memorial Building Fund Committee and current administrator of the Missouri Senate. "In my mind there is no one that has been involved in scouting in Southeast Missouri that has a larger influence on a larger number of youths than Jack Ward."

Contributions may be mailed to the Boy Scout Office, Re: Jack Ward, 3000 Gordonville Road, Cape Girardeau, Mo. 63703-5008.

For more information, call 335-3346.