At age 67, Louis Parham has good memories of his years as a Boy Scout in LaGrange.

He earned the rank of Eagle Scout in 1957, the first black to receive the honor from the West Georgia Council.

Parham was one of the leaders for Troop 63, sponsored by Kelley Grammar School.

“I am not sure why I got that role, but I did,” he said. “I liked doing all of the things we did. I worked really hard to accomplish each one of the goals so I could get a merit badge.

“But I wasn’t the only one. Each one of the boys in the troop did. I was the only one who got the swimming badge, and that is what got me the rank of Eagle Scout.”

Calling himself determined, Parham at East Depot High School was on the varsity track and football teams for three years, president of the science and photography clubs, treasurer of the senior class, president of the student council and editor of the school yearbook.

He discovered his love for the outdoors through the segregated scout troop.

“We really didn’t know what was going on with the white students or troop. It really didn’t make a difference to us - we didn’t know what we were missing,” Parham said.

“When I was in high school and we played football, we got the white kids’ leftover equipment and had to use those old helmets - you know the leather kind.”

Laughing, Parham said, “So, with the Boy Scouts, we really didn’t see the racial thing. When I got the Eagle Scout honor, there was a little write-up in the newspaper and that was it, but I was proud.”

He was the fifth of eight children of Cleveland Parham and Hattie Hall of LaGrange. His parents didn’t live together when Parham was growing up.

“My mom was very strict. She worked as a maid and worked hard. When I was in sixth grade, I just knew I needed some sort of outlet, something that would get me out of the yard, as Mom wouldn’t let us go outside of our yard,” he recalled.

It was in 1954 that Parham discovered the Boy Scout troop and found his boundaries to broaden as he attended scout camp at a facility called Camp Jackson.

“It was a huge place, property of someone in our community. It had a lake and plenty of land for us to do the activities,” he said.

“I remember working on projects. … Once, I built a birdhouse out of the wood that made up the bottom of my dresser drawer. I worked hard on that.”

Being very competitive, Parham said he thrived on the events and activities at the camp.

“I just didn’t know the meaning of the word ‘can’t.’ The coach of the football team didn’t want me to get hurt - I was 123 pounds soaking wet - and he told me to be a reporter, but I wanted to be a player,” he said.

“I have never been one to back down from a challenge, and I really can’t say that being black or being poor influenced me to have that mindset, or that my rank in my family made me more determined to succeed - it was just part of my make-up.”

As a scout, Parham earned 24 merit badges and the Explorer Apprentice Award.

Parham graduated from high school and joined the Navy. He served in the North Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, and became one of the first blacks to go through officer training school.

In the service, “we were aware of the racial divide, but I never experienced it fully. I just went out and did my best, did my work and that is how I got noticed,” he said.

Parham credits his time in the Boy Scouts for setting “the foundation for me in life. I was able to go to college on a scholarship from the Callaway Foundation after I got out of the service because of my time as a Boy Scout, and I was a part of the National Junior Leader Training Camp.”

The camp was held at Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico in the summer of 1958.

Smiling, Parham said, “That was an experience. I was the only black there and the rest were a bunch of white guys from all over the United States - Eagle Scouts. It was a real honor to go.

“Sure, at the time, blacks had to go in different entrance ways, eat at different places, ride the back of the bus, and at the theater had to sit upstairs, but when I was there at Camp Philmont, I didn’t get any special treatment or bad treatment. The guys were good to me.”

Parham retired from the Navy with the rank of captain in 2002.

He is married to the former Dorothy Marie Hynson. They live in Mechanicsburg, Pa. They have a son, Louis, and three daughters, Jacqueline Marie, Nancy and Verice.

Though his parents are gone, Parham tries to get back to LaGrange when he can,and enjoys meeting with his fellow Boy Scouts, such Oscar Jackson.

Jackson said Parham ” was a dynamo. He just had all of these leadership abilities and just was a good guy.”

“He was the one who always took the first step in doing any of the projects and the rest of us followed,” Jackson said.

When told of his friend’s comments, Parham quietened and said, “It wasn’t because I was any more special than the rest of them.”

Becky Holland can be reached at bholland@ lagrangenews.com and (706) 884-7311, Ext. 229.