Fred Goodwin, CMA
2007-03-29 19:38:08 UTC
L.I.'s oldest Girl Scout
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18144330
By NANCY HILER
March 29, 2007
The first time Florence Meiselbach raised her hand to take the Girl
Scout Promise in 1925, little did she know that more than 80 years
later she would still be living up to its pledge of service to God,
country and other people.
The 94-year-old Bellmore resident -- just a year younger than Girl
Scouting itself, which celebrates it 95th anniversary this month -- is
believed to be the oldest Girl Scout on Long Island, according to Girl
Scouts of Nassau County. Beyond that, it's conceivable that Meiselbach
may be the oldest in the state or even the nation, but that doesn't
particularly interest her. What does interest her is pretty much
everything else that has to do with Girl Scouts.
After about a dozen years as a very industrious Girl Scout herself
during her youth (she earned dozens of merit badges), Meiselbach
became a troop leader in the 1940s for her two daughters, and for one
of her granddaughters in the 1970s. She has kept her membership in the
organization current ever since.
"It's a way of life," she said. "Becoming a Girl Scout is the best
thing a girl can do. I tell them if they want a full life, join the
Girl Scouts. There's no better way. It teaches them good citizenship,
responsibility and respect."
Get Meiselbach talking about the Girl Scouts and she will take out a
thick photo album devoted to her years in scouting. She will point out
who most of the people are in each picture or talk about the various
events captured in the images.
She will tell you about marching in parades -- "too many to count" --
all over Long Island, including Islip Terrace, where she grew up, and
attending numerous scout assemblies, including some held in the
auditorium of Mepham High School in the 1970s.
She will recount how she went door to door selling her share of Girl
Scout cookies. "We were never afraid to do that back then," Meiselbach
said. "Today the parents go with the girls, or they sell the cookies
outside of stores."
She will also tell you how her childhood troop camped in cabins at
Heckscher Park in the 1920s. "It was beautiful," she says, remembering
acre upon acre of trees and wilderness.
She will recall trips taken to Camp Edith Macy in Pleasantville, N.Y.,
named after the wife of Valentine Everit Macy, the Manhattan
philanthropist who donated the land in 1926 as a training camp for
scout leaders.
A Time magazine article of the time noted that the camp's opening was
attended by Girl Scouts of America founder Juliette Gordon Low, then-
president Lou Henry Hoover, the wife of President Herbert Hoover, and
then-national director Jane Deeter Rippin. At the camp's dedication,
Rippin said that leadership training was needed because "We have the
problem not only of helping growing girls, but of bringing to maturity
a generation of women who shall not be nervous wrecks."
Knife, compass, cup
Meiselbach still has the original khaki uniform she wore as a girl.
She will tell you that the uniform's belt originally had a knife, a
compass and a collapsible cup attached. "We carved things with the
knife, and used it and the compass and cup when we went camping," she
explained.
Stitched onto the sleeves of the military-style uniform are a many of
the 25 to 30 merit badges she earned and the stripes representing
years of service. She pulls another dozen or so stripes and badges
from one of the pockets, saying she wishes she still had the dexterity
herself or knew someone who could sew the rest of them on for her.
"I loved doing badges," she enthused. She earned them for mastering
such skills as cooking, nature study, arts and crafts, first aid and
sewing.
Meiselbach said she would have preferred that the uniform stayed the
same or been less modernized over the years, as the Boy Scout uniform
has. "Today I see a [Scout] leader and she is wearing a T-shirt," she
said. "Can you imagine? A T-shirt with a G.S. on it for Girl Scouts.
And the girls wear a vest, and that's their so-called uniform. Some
changes are nice, but some are not."
What she believes to be nice today are the opportunities that the
girls are given. "We didn't have that," she said. "Today they have
more advantages. They can do anything. They have so much to look
forward to."
After she married Joseph Meiselbach in 1937, they moved to Bellmore in
1943, where they raised two daughters and two sons. Today she is the
grandmother of 13 and great-grandmother of 21. Her daughters recently
moved in with her, she said, but she still makes most of her own meals
and does her own shopping.
Breathing heavily after she talks for a bit and dependent on an oxygen
tank sometimes at night to sleep, Meiselbach explained that she quit
smoking cigarettes in 1981. Remarkably, she gave up driving just two
years ago. "Too many narrow escapes," she declared. "It was getting
too dangerous."
Lamb Award
Earlier this month, the nonagenarian was honored with the Lamb Award,
a national recognition bestowed on Lutheran adults acknowledging their
distinguished service to youth. A special ceremony was held at the
Grace Lutheran Church in Bellmore on March 4. "It was very
unexpected," Meiselbach said. "I thought they were having a little
social after the Sunday service," she said of the award ceremony. "I
feel very honored, humbled."
She went on, "I loved working with the girls. It's amazing how they
can find themselves in their accomplishments." She explained that she
had seen many a girl who had little or no confidence, and really
couldn't do much of anything. "They couldn't even tie their shoelaces.
Then you teach them and 1, 2, 3, they learn it." Among her troops over
the years, she explained, no one was allowed to say "I can't." "They
had to say, 'I'll try,'" she explained, adding that she is still
available to guide girls.
Adamant about her decisions to quit smoking and give up driving,
Meiselbach is, if anything, even more certain about another choice she
has made: She will never stop being a Girl Scout. "You need me? I'm
here," she said.
Comments about this story? (516) 569-4000 ext. 234.
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18144330
By NANCY HILER
March 29, 2007
The first time Florence Meiselbach raised her hand to take the Girl
Scout Promise in 1925, little did she know that more than 80 years
later she would still be living up to its pledge of service to God,
country and other people.
The 94-year-old Bellmore resident -- just a year younger than Girl
Scouting itself, which celebrates it 95th anniversary this month -- is
believed to be the oldest Girl Scout on Long Island, according to Girl
Scouts of Nassau County. Beyond that, it's conceivable that Meiselbach
may be the oldest in the state or even the nation, but that doesn't
particularly interest her. What does interest her is pretty much
everything else that has to do with Girl Scouts.
After about a dozen years as a very industrious Girl Scout herself
during her youth (she earned dozens of merit badges), Meiselbach
became a troop leader in the 1940s for her two daughters, and for one
of her granddaughters in the 1970s. She has kept her membership in the
organization current ever since.
"It's a way of life," she said. "Becoming a Girl Scout is the best
thing a girl can do. I tell them if they want a full life, join the
Girl Scouts. There's no better way. It teaches them good citizenship,
responsibility and respect."
Get Meiselbach talking about the Girl Scouts and she will take out a
thick photo album devoted to her years in scouting. She will point out
who most of the people are in each picture or talk about the various
events captured in the images.
She will tell you about marching in parades -- "too many to count" --
all over Long Island, including Islip Terrace, where she grew up, and
attending numerous scout assemblies, including some held in the
auditorium of Mepham High School in the 1970s.
She will recount how she went door to door selling her share of Girl
Scout cookies. "We were never afraid to do that back then," Meiselbach
said. "Today the parents go with the girls, or they sell the cookies
outside of stores."
She will also tell you how her childhood troop camped in cabins at
Heckscher Park in the 1920s. "It was beautiful," she says, remembering
acre upon acre of trees and wilderness.
She will recall trips taken to Camp Edith Macy in Pleasantville, N.Y.,
named after the wife of Valentine Everit Macy, the Manhattan
philanthropist who donated the land in 1926 as a training camp for
scout leaders.
A Time magazine article of the time noted that the camp's opening was
attended by Girl Scouts of America founder Juliette Gordon Low, then-
president Lou Henry Hoover, the wife of President Herbert Hoover, and
then-national director Jane Deeter Rippin. At the camp's dedication,
Rippin said that leadership training was needed because "We have the
problem not only of helping growing girls, but of bringing to maturity
a generation of women who shall not be nervous wrecks."
Knife, compass, cup
Meiselbach still has the original khaki uniform she wore as a girl.
She will tell you that the uniform's belt originally had a knife, a
compass and a collapsible cup attached. "We carved things with the
knife, and used it and the compass and cup when we went camping," she
explained.
Stitched onto the sleeves of the military-style uniform are a many of
the 25 to 30 merit badges she earned and the stripes representing
years of service. She pulls another dozen or so stripes and badges
from one of the pockets, saying she wishes she still had the dexterity
herself or knew someone who could sew the rest of them on for her.
"I loved doing badges," she enthused. She earned them for mastering
such skills as cooking, nature study, arts and crafts, first aid and
sewing.
Meiselbach said she would have preferred that the uniform stayed the
same or been less modernized over the years, as the Boy Scout uniform
has. "Today I see a [Scout] leader and she is wearing a T-shirt," she
said. "Can you imagine? A T-shirt with a G.S. on it for Girl Scouts.
And the girls wear a vest, and that's their so-called uniform. Some
changes are nice, but some are not."
What she believes to be nice today are the opportunities that the
girls are given. "We didn't have that," she said. "Today they have
more advantages. They can do anything. They have so much to look
forward to."
After she married Joseph Meiselbach in 1937, they moved to Bellmore in
1943, where they raised two daughters and two sons. Today she is the
grandmother of 13 and great-grandmother of 21. Her daughters recently
moved in with her, she said, but she still makes most of her own meals
and does her own shopping.
Breathing heavily after she talks for a bit and dependent on an oxygen
tank sometimes at night to sleep, Meiselbach explained that she quit
smoking cigarettes in 1981. Remarkably, she gave up driving just two
years ago. "Too many narrow escapes," she declared. "It was getting
too dangerous."
Lamb Award
Earlier this month, the nonagenarian was honored with the Lamb Award,
a national recognition bestowed on Lutheran adults acknowledging their
distinguished service to youth. A special ceremony was held at the
Grace Lutheran Church in Bellmore on March 4. "It was very
unexpected," Meiselbach said. "I thought they were having a little
social after the Sunday service," she said of the award ceremony. "I
feel very honored, humbled."
She went on, "I loved working with the girls. It's amazing how they
can find themselves in their accomplishments." She explained that she
had seen many a girl who had little or no confidence, and really
couldn't do much of anything. "They couldn't even tie their shoelaces.
Then you teach them and 1, 2, 3, they learn it." Among her troops over
the years, she explained, no one was allowed to say "I can't." "They
had to say, 'I'll try,'" she explained, adding that she is still
available to guide girls.
Adamant about her decisions to quit smoking and give up driving,
Meiselbach is, if anything, even more certain about another choice she
has made: She will never stop being a Girl Scout. "You need me? I'm
here," she said.
Comments about this story? (516) 569-4000 ext. 234.