The rank of Eagle Scout carries prestige. It looks great on college and job applications, it’s been received by some of the most important names in history and it’s a rite of passage for some scouts.

For one group of men, it’s a more than that. It’s family tradition.

Dr. Woody Jones, a family medicine practitioner in LaGrange; his father, Allen Jones, a former history professor in Auburn, Ala.; and Woody Jones’ sons, Nathan Jones, 22, of Montgomery, Ala., and Taylor Jones, 26, of Nashville, Tenn., are all Eagle Scouts.

The three generations have put in work, toil and service hours, and it’s not something the men plan to quit doing. About 2 percent of scouts receive the award.

“Everybody knows what an Eagle Scout is,” Woody Jones said. “You may not know what a Campfire Girl is, but you know what an Eagle Scout is. And people realize that means leadership and all those qualities that you want your kids to have.”

Obtaining Eagle rank means earning 21 merit badges, 10 more than re-quired for the next highest rank of Life Scout; serving in a troop position of responsibility; and planning, organizing and carrying out a service project for a nonscout group.

To earn his award, Woody Jones completed a book drive for the library in Auburn, Ala., in the early 1970s. Nathan Jones purchased and collected more than 1,000 pairs of underwear and socks for a local clothing closet, while Taylor Jones landscaped the grounds of the former Twin Cedars youth home at 305 N. Greenwood St.

That final project epitomized what being an Eagle Scout meant to Nathan Jones.

“It says that I can complete a project. I can start something and finish it,” he said. “And commitment and morality - it does portray something about you that is honorable.

“I’m glad that I’m an Eagle Scout, certainly, and I’m glad my parents pushed me to do it. … Because I’m an Eagle Scout, I’m never scared.”

Currently training for the National Guard, Nathan Jones feels he is likely to move into a higher position than others because of the Eagle Scout badge he earned when he was 14, something he looks back on as something he can says he’s completed.

“Without my Eagle Scout, I would not have nearly the amount of polish, fortitude and morality that I have today,” he said.

Taylor Jones saw it as a tradition that his father had carried on from his father. He still walks out of the house with a pocketknife and a lighter, he has a first aid kit in the trunk of his car and he assesses every situation for problems that might occur.

“It’s taught me how to canoe, row, swim, and it’s taught other boys just as much because there’s experiences out there that you don’t get unless you get into scouting,” Taylor Jones said. “… When I have kids, I’ll put them in scouting and I’ll become more active in that role.”

Both Taylor Jones and Nathan Jones have taken a break from scouting. Their father serves as assistant scoutmaster for Troop 324 at First Baptist Church on the Square, which has seen 46 boys become Eagle Scouts since 1985.

It’s the experiences that hold them together. All three recalled backpacking in the wild terrain filled with heavy forests and rocky terrain at Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico.

It’s an adventure that Woody Jones has made a large part of his life, and it’s something he’s experienced with both of his sons.

“There are qualities to being an Eagle Scout that any father would want their child to obtain,” Jones said. “Trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent - the 12 Boy Scout laws.

“The behavioral characteristics that we cherish in this society are epitomized in Eagle Scouts. When your children become Eagle Scouts, you know that it’s something that they will be proud of and it’s something that makes them more prepared for life.”

Woody Jones’ devotion to scouting began with father, who moved the family from Greenville, S.C., where he taught at Furman University, to become a professor at Auburn University.

The 80-year-old had praise for his son, who became a doctor while keeping scouting an integral part of his life.

“He had that motivation, and I said ‘Son, if you’re going to do it, you’re going to do it right,’ ” Allen Jones said. “… He never has given up on scouting.”

Although times were different when he became an Eagle Scout in the 1940s in Andalusia, Ala., the principles were the same for him as they were for his son and grandsons.

“It motivates you to work toward something. It teaches good principles of love of nation, love of God, love of family, this kind of thing, but it gives you an incentive to work toward a goal,” he said.

Woody Jones still keeps in touch with the other scouts with whom he went through the program. It’s like a fraternity of sorts, Allen Jones said. Woody Jones’ scoutmaster, Tom Eden, played a large role in his getting acquainted with a different town, different friends and a different life.

“I reap the reward from my graduate students, the ones who succeeded, the ones I taught,” Allen Jones said. “I think that scoutmaster was like that. He was proud of those young boys for what they did and what they became.”

Now, while Nathan and Taylor Jones move into new life positions and Allen Jones becomes more settled in retirement, Woody Jones continues to prepare for his next scout jamboree, campout or hiking trip, because that’s just what he does.

“Everybody tries to do good for something,” Allen Jones said. “Woody’s done it for the scouts. You can’t buy that kind of help.”

— The Legacy Museum on Main marks the 100th anniversary of Boy Scouting with a free exhibit focusing on West Georgia and East Alabama. It opens today at 136 Main St. in La-Grange and runs through March 31.

Trey Wood can be reached at twood @ lagrangenews. com or (706) 884-7311, Ext. 228.