Memories fly back to Eagle Scout

LYNN – John Blake knew his daughters made plans for his 85th birthday, but he didn’t know they intended to take him on a trip back in time.The West Lynn resident opened a small box on July 3 and stared down at the medals signifying the Eagle Scout honors accorded him in 1946. In addition to the Eagle Scout medal and patch, the box contained the small “mom, dad and mentor” medals honoring the people who helped a 15-year-old Blake ascend to Scouting’s pinnacle achievement. Blake grew up in the Boston Street house where he still lives and graduated from St. Mary’s Boys High School. He joined the Army and, at some point during his enlistment, his family responded to a request to loan Scouting honors as part of a display at Sacred Heart Church.Blake’s Scouting regalia disappeared, and the veteran launched his career and helped raise a family with a precious part of his past missing.”He never saw them again,” said Mary Gentleman, one of Blake’s four daughters.A former General Electric West Lynn plant worker and Polaroid employee, Blake attended Northeastern University and worked his way into a manager job that took him to Digital Equipment Corporation.Over the years, Gentleman and her sisters – Jacqueline Blake, Paula Timmons and Joanne Fusco – heard their father’s stories about earning his Eagle Scout honors and losing the medals. When he mentioned the medals again in advance of his 85th birthday, the sisters decided to try and find replacement medals.Gentleman met with little success in the search until assistant city clerk Mary Gokas directed her to the Yankee Clipper Scout Shop in Andover.The sisters used Blake’s Scout sash covered with Scouting merit badges to help pinpoint the research information they needed to obtain the Eagle Scout badges. They bought the medals, placed them in a box and wished their father happy birthday.”When he opened it, his face just lit up,” Gentleman said.The medals brought back memories of attending Troop 33 meetings at Sacred Heart in the 1940s. Blake and the late Arthur Barton worked together to earn merit badges, and Blake’s uncle, Lynn resident Ted Carter, kept the boys focused on their objective.”He helped us with the difficult merit badges,” Blake recalled.He said becoming an Eagle Scout taught him the virtues of honesty and “consistency” and helped him set the bar high when he pursued youth sports and challenges, including the Boston Marathon.Blake said he is proud to share a piece of his youth with his five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren (a fifth is due in November).”It brought back a lot of memories,” he said.