By ADAM STEWART

Staff writer

Gene Enos of rural Marion isn’t someone who lets little obstacles prevent him from accomplishing the things he sets out to do.

At age 10, before joining the Boy Scouts troop in his home town of St. Marys, he contracted polio. Because of his bout with the illness, he was given the option to pursue an alternative path to earn the Eagle Scout award, but he turned it down.

“Some people say I’m a stubborn man,” Enos said.

He received the rank of tenderfoot in 1942. Before earning the rank of first-class scout, he had to go on a 14-mile hike. It took more than a year for him to get a doctor’s permission to make the hike, and when he did, nobody else was able to go with him.

Finally, one day he left St. Marys at 7 a.m., walking to the nearby town of Belvue about 7 miles away. When he arrived at the Belvue train station, he had a dispatcher sign that he had, in fact, been there. Enos then turned around and walked back to St. Marys, arriving home after 6 p.m.

Eventually he became the first Eagle Scout in St. Marys.

“I’ve never quit scouting,” Enos said.

He remained involved with scouts while he was in college and after he began his career in education. He arrived in Marion in 1965, becoming a school principal. Earl Winters was the scoutmaster, so Enos volunteered as an assistant scoutmaster before leading an Explorer Scouts post.

His mobility is limited now, but he continues to maintain a primitive campsite near his home along the banks of the Cottonwood River.

“That polio in 1940 has finally caught up with me,” he said.

Many of the skills Enos gained from his time in scouts were valuable later in his life. His first aid merit badge led him to become an emergency medical technician. Similarly, after earning the swimming merit badge, he became a Red Cross certified swimming instructor.

His son participated in Boy Scouts, and his daughters were in Girl Scouts.

“We were a scouting family,” he said.

He said scouting and similar activities can help bring families closer. He said he couldn’t pick out any single favorite part of scouting, whether it was earning his Eagle Scout award, going on a long hiking trip in New Mexico, going on canoe trips, or receiving the Silver Beaver award for distinguished leadership as an adult.

“It was always a new adventure, you see,” he said. “It’s been a good 68 years.”

Enos will be the grand marshal of the Old Settlers Day parade Saturday in Marion. This year the parade is celebrating 100 years of scouting.