These days, when the name John A. True is mentioned, most folks think of True Hall, which was one of the first buildings on the McCook College Campus. This memorial to Mr. True is certainly justified. John True was the Superintendent of Schools from 1918 until 1930, when he left McCook to take the position of Superintendent of the Council Bluffs, Iowa School System. During his tenure in McCook there were a great many changes made in the School System.

The Junior (two year) College concept was just beginning in the United States in the 1920s, and the McCook School Board seized upon that idea as something that would help McCook and the McCook Area---a way to "keep our high school graduates at home". Superintendent True was the fellow they designated to be the driving force behind that movement, and by 1926 he was successful, selling both the people of McCook and the State Legislature on the concept, and McCook College became the first Junior College in Nebraska.

Mr. True was an innovator in other ways. He introduced a Junior High program into the McCook School System. He inaugurated a pupil-health program and worked out a physical education program for the schools. A part of this plan was the hiring of a school nurse and a director of Physical Education. During his administration the school staff increased from 31 to 61 teachers. It was said that during the True administration he "brought students, parents, teachers and taxpayers into a cooperation seldom found in public schools at the time."

True was a prominent figure in McCook civic affairs. He served several terms on the Executive Board of the Chamber of Commerce, and was a member of the McCook Rotary Club. He also took a turn as President of the Nebraska Teachers' Association.

With all of Mr. True's impressive accomplishments in the City and State, McCook's Dr. John Batty most remembers John True as the man who brought the Boy Scouts to McCook.

The Boy Scout movement had gotten its start in the first years of the 20th Century, through the work of British General Robert Baden-Powell, a hero of the Boer War. General Baden-Powell planned a movement for boys, patterned along military lines. In the United States, Chicago Publisher, William Boyd, envisioned an organization along different lines, and with the help of people like Daniel Beard, a well known artist and outdoorsman, and Ernest Thompson Seton, a well known writer and artist, he was able to turn the movement in the United States into more of a "Woodsman-Indian-Self Reliance" type of program, and after 1910 there were Scout troops springing up in various parts of the country.

When Mr. True started the local Boy Scout Troop, #3, there was not yet a State Boy Scout organization. True served as the first Scoutmaster, and Publisher Harry Strunk, John Batty's Uncle, Harry Stewart, and Railroadman George Burney were on the first Scout Council. Troop #3 initially had one Patrol, the Flying Eagle Patrol, and included Mark True, John Batty, LaMoyne Motter, Charles McMillen, Leslie Stennett, and Jack Fagan.

The original members of the McCook Boy Scouts were very active and were good at recruiting new members and the Troop quickly expanded to some 20 members, and a second Patrol. The boys met weekly and enjoyed regular hikes into the country. An island in the Republican River, some 5 miles east of town was a favorite camping ground---close enough for an easy hike, yet far enough away, and sufficiently timbered that the boys felt they were in the wilderness, and could practice their outdoorsman skills and work on merit badges, to advance through the ranks in scouting. This island unfortunately was swept away in the great Republican River Flood of 1935.

In the summers there were longer camping trips. A favorite was Arterburn Lake, west of Imperial, and on rare occasions there were camping trips to a resort near Ft. Collins, or to the YMCA Camp south of Estes Park in Colorado, where the boys could do "Mountain Hiking", and hone their "Fly Casting" fishing skills.

Though some of the boys in the original Troop were primarily interested in the Camping, and fun aspects of being a Scout, most of the boys were interested in advancing through the ranks of Scouting, toward the ultimate goal of Eagle Scout. To do this the boys needed to accumulate Merit Badges, which signified competence in various of the 120 areas in which Merit Badges were awarded.

Of the 21 Merit Badges, which were required of an Eagle Scout, 12 were mandatory, First Aid, Citizenship in the Community, Citizenship in the Nation, and Citizenship in the World, Communications, Environmental Science, Personal Fitness, Personal Management, Camping, and Family Life. A choice could be made between Emergency Preparedness and Life Saving, and there was a choice between Cycling, Hiking, and Swimming.

In addition the boys needed to demonstrate leadership skills in various capacities in Scout Councils and summer Camporees. Over the years, until most of the boys dropped out of Scouting by their second year of High School there was quite a bit of competition as to who would be the first to make Eagle Scout.

The race came down to Mark True and John Batty. Mark True became McCook's first Eagle Scout in 1928, only two years after the troop was organized, followed just two weeks later by John Batty.

John Batty remembers that one of the requirements for his Eagle Scout Badge was to construct a bridge, made of tree limbs, without the use of nails, using thongs of leather to hold the components together.

He chose to build the bridge in the basement of his house, to take to the campsite at a later date. When the time came to take the bridge to the campsite he was unable to get it out of the basement, so the members of the testing committee were forced to come to his home to find that the bridge was indeed strong enough to hold the weight of a man. (He passed the test and received his Merit Badge.)

Scouting made a profound impression on John Batty, during his formative years certainly, but throughout his life. He has remained a steadfast Patron of the Scout movement, both on the local level and nationally.

During an interview John was asked about some of the principles of Scouting. Though he stopped being a Boy Scout some 80 years ago, without hesitation he recited the Scout Oath, "On my honor I will do my duty to God and my Country and obey the Scout Law; To help other people at all times; To keep my self physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight. And the Scout Law, "A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent."

And with a wink he added, "You know, that's not a bad roadmap for living a life!"