Introduction

Childhood

Courtship and Marriage

Education

Teaching

Touring

Scouting

Theater

History and Politics

Farming

Church Service

Mission President

Temple Presidency

Ashcroft Observatory

Family

Funeral

Photo Gallery

Scouting

“Happiness doesn’t come from being rich, or merely from being successful in your career, nor by self-indulgence.  One step toward happiness is to make yourself healthy and strong while you are a boy so that you can be useful and so you can enjoy life when you are a man.”

― Lord Baden-Powell

Scouting hadn't been going very long when Theron was a boy.  He was one of four boys who were the very first to receive their 1st class awards in Hyde Park.  The others were Vernal Seamons, Berdean Balls and Clinton Perkes.  The night they received their awards, the four of them sang a quartet in Church.  They sang, "Ho for the Slum Boys".

Their scoutmaster was Fred Duce, but as he got a little older, the man who took them on so many hikes was Alma Saunders.  He had been a sheepherder for most of his life and he really knew Logan Canyon.  On one of their hikes, they rode over to Bear Lake and stayed there a week and then walked home to Hyde Park.  They came down Logan Canyon until they got to about Tony Grove and then up and over the mountains into Smithfield and then to Hyde Park.  When Dad got a little older, he was scoutmaster of the first explorer troop that was ever organized in Cache Valley.  It was Troop 1017.  This was in 1929.  They weren't called explorers then, but Vanguards, and the only piece of uniform that they had was a fine green sweater with an arrowhead on the front.  Dad was the scoutmaster for the troop from Cache Valley that went to the very first national jamboree held in 1937.

This jamboree had been scheduled for 1935, but had to be postponed two years because of a polio outbreak. It was held in Washington D.C. and was attended by 25,000 scouts and President Franklin D. Roosevelt. They traveled by train. One of the scouts that Dad remembers well from that trip was Jay Bingham. Others who went included Preston Pond, who was the Scout Commissioner for Cache Valley, and S. Dilworth Young, who was one of the officials for the trip. Delmar Waite was one of Dad's assistants.

The train stopped in Palmyra and they hiked to a little fife and drum from the train station to the Hill Cumorah, which was quite a little hike.  On the trip, each scout was allowed a dollar a day for his spending money.  The officials carried it for them and passed it out every other morning.  Everyone wore scout uniforms with little shallow pockets.  Each payday an official would write out a check for $400, cash it and distribute dollar bills to the boys.  One morning they had cashed their check.  Since there wasn't room in their pockets for all those bills, they did up their belts tight and carried the money inside their shirts.  Glen Winn was the scoutmaster from the northern half of Cache Valley.  They were in Omaha and he wanted to buy a little gift to take home to his wife, so while the boys went to visit a slaughterhouse, he and Theron went to a store.  Glen had eaten something that morning that didn't agree with him, and so the first thing he did when they reached the store was ask for the restroom.  He rushed for the toilet, and not thinking, undid his belt, flushed the toilet and lost all $400 down the drain.  They didn't know what to do.  They didn't dare tell the boys.  They didn't have enough money to make it up.  In fact, they didn't know where they'd ever get that much.  They eventually had to explain to the boys what had happened, and they all fasted that day until they got their allowance the following day.

One of the things that Theron did as Vanguard leader was organize horseback trips.  Many of the notables, such as Preston Pond and A.C. Peterson, went on these trips as they were the first of their kind in Cache Valley.  One year they had twenty-nine saddle horses and four pack horses.  They would go up Green's Canyon, behind Greenville, and then over to Tony Grove Lake for the first night.  The second night they would go as far as White Pine Lake.  The third night was to Sawmill Lake and then down Smithfield Canyon and home.

Theron was awarded the Scoutmaster's Key and many other awards for his work in scouting.  He served in scouting in Cedar City from 1940 until 1953 as District Chairman, Explorer Chairman, Assistant Scoutmaster, Troop Committeeman and Leadership Training Chairman.

One interesting thing Theron did for scouting in Southern Utah was finding a suitable route for an annual scout trek through the Zion Narrows.  A newspaper article (most likely from  the Iron County Record) is titled, “Ten Men Have Harrowing Adventure Breaking Trail for Utah Scout Trek.”  The article lists the ten men who made the trek:  Theron Ashcroft, Vern Cooley, Arthur Gardner, Ianthus Wright, George Hess, and Aubrey Lawrence, all of Cedar City, together with four photographers from Los Angeles.  They started their trek Saturday morning from the top of Cedar Mountain, hoping to end at Zion National Park that evening.  The newspaper article recounts:

“The group of ten men, knowing that the trip would be strenuous, traveled light.  For food, they had ‘starvation rations’ consisting of a two day menu of raisins, dried beef, nuts, jam, wafers and chocolate.  The total menu for each man was only five pounds and three ounces.  They each carried a pack rack with a sleeping bag.

“The group left Cedar City early Saturday morning traveling by car to the top of Cedar Mountain.  They climbed to Hog’s Heaven, and descended to the bottom of the canyon.  While making the steep descent to the bottom of the gulch “Larry” (one of the photographers) injured his knee, which crippled him to the extent that he had to have his pack carried by his companions, and be helped over the more strenuous places.

“After reaching the bottom of the mountain the group traveled along the creek bed for about nine miles on dry land, and for 16 miles they found it necessary to wade through water and quicksand which often reached to their waists.  Photographer “Larry” became so exhausted with his knee injury that his companions had to help him the entire way!

“Mr. Ashcroft, Mr. Wright, and “Larry” went ahead of the group so that they could get the injured man out of the water as quickly as possible.  At six o’clock all daylight had faded from the narrows, and for two hours Mr, Wright and Mr Ashcroft groped their way through the river between the high canyon walls, carrying their injured companion.  Later they left the water and wrapped the then unconscious traveler in his pack and went for aid.

“The three men reached Cedar City late Sunday night, while the rest of the group had to stay on a few rocks in the middle of the river which twisted through the steep gorge.

“When daylight arrived Monday morning the rest of the group waded through the river to the opening, where they were met and given transportation to Cedar City.”

Who knows how many subsequent trips Theron made through the narrows! He took dozens of groups through the years. Often they would camp on Cedar Mountain the night before beginning the hike.