There's some irony in the fact that Ray Pflomm, Scoutmaster of Brookfield's Troop 135, is retiring from the position the very year that Scouting, in this country, celebrates its 100^th anniversary. Why? Because Ray, whom I've known since my son Matthew became a Scout six years ago, represents everything that's right about Scouting... and because he didn't get caught up in the controversies (over homosexuality, mostly) that have distracted the national organization in recent years. His goal has always been — and here Ray paraphrases the Boy Scouts' mission statement — to "help create good citizens that make ethical choices." By that standard, he's likely done more for Brookfield boys than nearly any volunteer in town.

In some ways Ray is an "accidental Scoutmaster," because — never a Scout himself — he was brought into the system by his wife, Sandy Pflomm. Sandy, now an administrative secretary at Huckleberry Hill Elementary School, was a Cub Scoutmaster when their son Andrew was young, and Ray figured helping out would be a good way to spend "quality time" with Andrew, and other boys who didn't fit the standard sports-and-television profile. Ray himself didn't: a Brookfield native, he spent much of his youth on his father's construction sites (Ray, too, is a home builder and carpenter), or out in the woods, by himself. And in the 1960s, of course, being outdoorsy in Brookfield was a lot easier: Ray recalls hunting pheasants in the Seven Hills area (Mudry Farm Road) off Route 133. "Back then," he says, "it was unusual to see a deer, and now there're so many we're talking about letting bow-hunters cull them."

Ray become Troop 135's Assistant Scoutmaster in 1998, and Scoutmaster in 2002, taking over a unit based at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, on Junction Road, known for its outdoor activities. And that is something Ray emphasized — in practice as well as theory, for he's now camped overnight with Scouts for 145 straight months. Why? Because camping acts as a crucible for the independence, and leadership, and teamwork, that Scouting intends to foster, all within sight of adults who can give instruction — and admonition — when necessary.

"When I was eight," Ray says, "if you'd saved your lawn-mowing money, you jumped on your bike and went to buy ice cream at Four Corners." But that world's long gone. "Everything is done for kids now," Ray continues, warming to the topic. "Look at sports, at band — the coaches, some of the parents, have become fanatical, the kids can hardly do anything else. And you have to ask: how many kids in football, lacrosse, play after college? And do they really learn sportsmanship? Sometimes the parents are just living their own sports dreams through their kids."

That's one area where he thinks Scout management can do better — "showing the value of the program to Soccer Moms, showing what it does for the boy as a citizen." It often provides more "whole boy" opportunities than sports, in part because Scout units (in theory at least) are "boy led," and because each boy controls his own Scout destiny. If he wants to advance in rank, he can, because leaders — volunteer adults, or older Scouts — will help him through every phase of the process. Natural physical talent — crucial in most sports — is almost irrelevant in Scouts, because Scout skills are mostly learned, and taught more through modeled behavior and experience than the written word or rote practice. If Ray presides over five Eagle Scout inductions this year — a possibility, if my son gets his act together! — it's in large measure because he's shown confidence in these teens' ability to both conceptualize, and execute, a major, real-world project.

"In Scouting," says Ray, "the kids find they have control over things, that they can do things for themselves — that they're expected to do things for themselves. And I've seen the good things this program does for them. Even if a kid was only with the troop for a year, he'll say 'Hello, Mr. Pflomm, how's Mrs. Pflomm'.... Some parents are amazed at the positive changes they've seen, even after a few months — their sons doing things they'd refused to do before, showing more responsibility, respect. And that's a good feeling." Similar, perhaps, to what Ray felt when he learned in 2005 that Andrew — by then an Eagle Scout, but neither class clown, nor jock, nor party animal — had been voted by his Brookfield High classmates as the "student you'd most want to be stranded on an island with."

For all the retirement talk, however, Ray is not a lame duck. "I don't plan on leaving the troop," he says. "I'll miss the Scoutmaster conferences — those one-on-one sessions with a boy, it's a good time for me to reflect with them on where they're headed. But I'm not going anywhere, I don't have any other real hobbies — I don't drink or gamble or go bowling." And the adults? Well, chances are he won't miss them at all, since he'll be seeing them — us — at campouts many times a year. Being outdoors, with people who respect nature as much as he does — that's one thing Ray's not going to forego.