CLEVELAND, Tenn.-Charlie Aulds has been inspiring boys to become the best of men for 49 years.
For nearly half a century he has been an area leader in the Cherokee Area Council’s Boy Scouts of America, and he was recognized Thursday at a reception for those years of service.
“I love the out-of-doors,” Aulds said. “I enjoy working with the boys and watching them grow up.”
Aulds, himself a Scout in Louisiana during the Depression, grew up to become a naval aviator and later a forester for the U.S. Forest Service. He started his adult Scouting years when his sons joined a troop.
After career moves to South and North Carolina, and becoming involved with Scouting in both places, Aulds came to Cleveland and the headquarters of the Cherokee National Forest.
A delegation of local leaders, including then-Mayor Harry Dethero, came in to his office one day to recruit him for the Scouting program, he said.
“I’m glad they did,” said Hank Smith, current Troop 10 assistant Scoutmaster. “He has been a mentor to me, without knowing it.”
Since then Aulds has spent the years in a number of Scouting capacities, passing along the organization’s values to thousands of younger generations.
“Mr. Aulds could have done other things. But he has given his time to these youth, giving them opportunities they may not otherwise have had,” said Jim Johnson, Ocoee camping chairman, during the reception at the Bank of Cleveland.
And Aulds keeps on Scouting.
Last summer he and a Scout group biked 180 miles in Maryland. This summer, while Troop 10’s older Scouts spend time at Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico, Aulds will be taking younger Scouts to summer camp at Skymont Scout Reservation in Grundy County.