FAMILY OF EAGLES

PALMER — The Lentz nest is getting a little crowded.

Chad Lentz, a recent Colony High School graduate, will receive his Eagle Scout tonight, the highest rank that can be achieved in the Boy Scouts of America. It’s a rank earned by about 5 percent of Scouts, but not unique to the Lentz family.

When Chad is presented his Eagle, he’ll be the sixth Lentz to become an Eagle Scout, following his two older brothers, father and two uncles.

It’s an impressive legacy, one Chad said he felt “just a little” pressure to complete.

“My older brothers and my dad and his brothers had all gotten their Eagles, so I figured I would too,” he said.

The drive to attain the pinnacle of Scouting for Chad and his older brothers Doug and Bryan came from their father, Nick, who is also the oldest of three Eagle Scout brothers.

Guided by the family patriarch Joe Lentz, who came to Alaska in 1935 as an infant, Nick earned the first Lentz Eagle in 1973, followed by brothers Paul and Dale. Being an Eagle Scout is a distinctive honor, Nick said.

“It tells people that you’re committed, that you’ll stand up for what’s right, you won’t lie, you won’t cheat — at least you shouldn’t,” he said. Nick also said he still tries to hold true to the Scout Law, which lays out the moral attributes a Scout should exhibit.

“You live by those,” he said. “You need to be proud and excited to be an Eagle, not do it just because mom and dad wanted me to.”

The tradition of Scouting is strong in the Lentz house, where Nick and Paul have both continued their involvement as Scout leaders. Dale has since passed away. And while it’s been decades since they earned their Eagles (Paul’s came in 1980), it’s an award that maintains its importance.

“Years ago, to be an astronaut, one of the requirements was to be an Eagle Scout,” Nick said. “Armstrong walked on the moon and was an Eagle Scout.”

Doug, a 2005 Colony graduate, related a story told at his Eagle presentation ceremony. Another Eagle Scout, Bill Bohman — who also presented to Doug’s father — talked about what the military thought of the rank of Eagle.

“The very first day of boot camp, they had them line up and the drill sergeant said, ‘OK, all of you who are Eagle Scouts, step forward,’” Doug said. “Bill Bohman and another gentleman stepped forward and the drill sergeant looked at all the other recruits and said, ‘All right, those are your leaders. You get an extra pay raise right now.’”

The flaming marshmallow

All said, Scouting builds strong character traits like dependability, trustworthiness and a good work ethic, but their merit badges and Eagles didn’t come without some fun and hijinks along the way.

They’re all familiar with the snipe hunt (where others are duped to carry a bag through the woods to flush out the elusive, mythical snipe).

“Absolutely, we used to run snipe hunts all the time,” Paul said.

Ever go on a hunt yourself?

“Oh sure,” Paul said, “how do you think we got caught up in it? I remember once we took a bunch on a snipe hunt on down by the railroad tracks. We went in a little bit and let (the other Scouts) loose.”

And living in Alaska provides plenty of opportunity for winter camping, one such outing Paul recalls vividly.

“We were at the Freezeree Camp at Lake Louise in January, and it was cold,” he said. “I mean, it was cold, cold. About 10 or 12 of us all went up there and the adults got a cabin and the rest of us had tents — here’s a tent, see you in the morning.”

You don’t become an Eagle Scout without toasting your fair share of marshmallows, and it was a trip snowmachining and ice fishing that elicits a chuckle from Nick.

“We’re just having a great time and Don Dolance really liked marshmallows,” he said. “He had a long stick from about here to the TV with a marshmallow on it. And someone says, ‘Don, your marshmallow’s on fire,’ so he picks his stick up and he’s whipping it back and forth to get the fire to go out. It came off and, you couldn’t have done this if you tried, but it came off and landed right in his eye socket and burned a ring around his eye.”

Growing up a Scout

Because Nick, Paul and Dale’s father, was the local Scoutmaster for Troop 35, he wanted to make sure there would be no doubt his sons earned their Eagles and didn’t just have them handed to them.

“Dad was my Scoutmaster when I got my Eagle,” Nick said, “and said, ‘I’m going to be harder on you than on anybody else, because I don’t want the district or nationals to ever come back and say you got it because you were my son,’” Nick said. “So, if I had to do two knots on paper, I had to do four (for him). And I had to do it blindfolded and behind my back, and I’m dead serious. He made me do that. I’d practice and practice in the living room until I could get them.”

The approach may seem a little over the top, but it’s a lesson Nick appreciates today.

“Did I hate it at the time? Yeah, I did,” he said. “But it’s something now that I cherish very dearly. He just wanted to make sure that at any time during my board of review they could ask me anything and I would know it and could pass it off without any problems.”

One of the main lessons of Scouting is “to do a good turn daily,” Paul said. “Be the best you can be all the time. It gets ingrained into you after awhile, you always try to do your best no matter what it is, if it’s raking the lawn or doing the laundry or washing the dishes.”

While the Lentz family has a three-generation connection with Scouting, there was never any pressure for the younger boys to earn their Eagles, said Bryan, the middle brother.

“It wasn’t so much pressure because it’s something I wanted to do,” said Bryan, who’s now an EMT in the Valley. “What’s cool to me is we weren’t pressured into doing it. It was all by choice, self-motivation.”

Earning the latest Lentz Eagle is just the beginning for Chad, whose next step in life will be to undertake a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. With the recognition of Scouting worldwide, his Eagle and family story may be a good introduction to strangers.

“I think it’s pretty cool to say all my family are Eagle Scouts,” Chad said.

Contact Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.

JUST THE FACTS

Information about the rank of Eagle Scout from the Boy Scouts of America. Facts are from 2008, the latest information available:

• Eagle is the highest rank in Boy Scouting.

• About 5 percent of all Boy Scouts earned the rank of Eagle.

• The average age of boys earning the Eagle Scout is 17.3 years old.

• To earn an Eagle, a Scout must progress through all the lower ranks of Tenderfoot, Second Class, First Class, Star and Life.

• A Scout must also earn a minimum of 21 merit badges, including 13 required badges.

• A Scout must serve six month in a leadership position in his troop.

• He also must plan, develop and give leadership to a service project for any religious organization or any school or community.

• Before earning Eagle, a Scout must also take part in a scoutmaster conference.

• After completing the requirements, a Scout must pass a board of review.