By Bobby Tingle

Bobby.tingle@orangeleader.com

 

William “Bill” P. Bailey will receive the first Distinguished Citizen Award from the Orange County Sabine District, Three Rivers Council of the Boy Scouts of America on Tuesday, August 30, 2016. David Jones, co-founder, of Gopher Industrial is the keynote speaker for the event. The dinner and program honoring Bailey will be held at the Orange County Convention and Expo Center at 6:30 p.m.

“I served as a volunteer Scout leader on just about very base I was stationed while in the United States Air Force,” said Bailey. “But I started in scouting when I was a kid.”

Bailey’s first job in the Air Force at age eighteen was Air Traffic Controller in Great Falls, Montana. He retired after 30 years of service.

“The day I retired from the Air Force I went on the payroll with the Boy Scouts in Beaumont, Texas,” said Bailey.

He served three years in Jasper beginning in 1969 before transferring to the Sabine District where he served 23 years.

The City of Orange City Council and the Orange County Commissioners declared “Bill Bailey Day” on November 14, 1991 in recognition of his service to scouting and the Orange County community at his retirement.

“Bill started with the Boy Scouts of America on the same day he retired from a distinguished service with the United States Air Force,” Doug Moore said. “Bill served his career in Orange County except for three years he spent in the Newton area. This is almost unheard of in the Professional side of Scouting.”

Moore is the current District Director of the Orange County Sabine District, Three Rivers Council with the Boy Scouts of America.

According to Moore, the Three Rivers Council currently serves 975 youth in Orange County. The Council spends $217 per Scout to carry out the program of Scouting. At present, the only local support received by the council is from United Way.

“We are very appreciative of the support we receive from the United Way,” Moore said. “We believe the program of scouting needs to grow and expand but we need funds in order to make this happen and the Distinguished Citizens Dinner is a way for us to meet this shortfall.”

Contact the Three Rivers Council office by phone at 409-842-8240 for more information regarding the benefit and award dinner.