Red, white and blue Eagle Scout Awards spent months, then a few months more, prepared for their place on the left pocket of Ty and Bry Rowe’s uniforms. The brothers from Bingham (Neb.) received Boy Scouting’s highest achievement rank June 4 in Alliance joined by family and friends.
Eagles Scouts log two dates, when they earn the rank then when they receive it at their courts of honor. Ty became an Eagle on March 23, 2018, followed by Bry just over three years later – March 28, 2021. Both graduates of Hyannis High School, they are the sons of Ben and Lee Rowe. Grandparents Tom and Dorothy Rowe and great grandmother Bessie Ward were among the court of honor guests.
Ty and Bry join their dad, older brothers, Wyatt and Skylor, and uncle Karl Zerck, as Eagle Scouts – a goal more than two million Boy Scouts have earned since 1912. The two newest Eagles wanted to receive the badge together like their brothers did, though in that case the span was a year apart. Covid and family medical issues were among the factors that delayed Ty and Bry’s court of honor. This summer brought Ty back home from Wayne where he moved after high school. Bry will be a freshman at South Dakota School of Mines in Rapid City, S.D., in the fall.
Eagle follows six initial Boy Scouts of America ranks with 21 merit badges (Bry earned 26 to Ty’s 27) and a service project the main requirements. Regarding their projects, Bry recalled work at the Pleasant Point Church in Ellsworth, Neb., where he and volunteers fixed up the cemetery fence and cleaned up some cattle fence. Before the Good Samaritan Care Center in Alliance closed, Ty said, they made garden boxes to grow plants and veggies.
Scouting influences boys’ lives far into adulthood. “Impact for me is, took me out of being with the rest of my class who screwed around,” Bry emphasized. “Learned to pay attention and put a good attitude to everything.” Ty shared, “Definitely motivated me to go farther. . . . Boosted my motivation to try and strive to be better than I was.”
Summer 2022 meant final preparations for an afternoon that both looked back at the brother’s experiences in Scouting and ahead to their potential. In years past week-long camps offered an escape this time of year. Ty and Bry attended summer camps in Nebraska, Wyoming and South Dakota. “I liked going to camps and enjoying my time with my troop and meeting people from all over the country,” Ty said.
Initially, crossing over from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts, Ty and Bry joined Wyatt and Skylor in Troop 214, led by their parents. “It all started in Cub Scouts at the Ashby Church,” Ty recalled, “(which) has always been a big thing since I was young. My dad, mom, grandparents were helping the whole time. Then my aunt and uncle (Elizabeth and Karl Zerck) by the time we were in Boy Scouts.”
“One day dad came to me and said it would be great if you got your Eagle,” Wyatt said. “(He) never pushed them too much, let them (Ty and Bry) to do their own thing. We already had our Eagle when Bry came in.”
The brothers were all in Scouts one summer camp at Medicine Mountain in the Black Hills. “It’s a family tradition,” Skylor said simply.
Ben served as an assistant scoutmaster with Alliance Troop 216 where Bry and Ty spent their latter years. After the court of honor, he and Lee shared their thoughts about the significance of their sons’ experiences in Scouting.
“(All the boys) make better decisions, gives them the confidence to stand up before a crowd and do stuff,” Ben said.
“In Scouts with all the boys – hand in hand with the morals and values, we raised them as a family – hardworking and truthful and honest and different in a good way,” Lee said. “. . . Scouting was not just our family, but the Scouting family as well. We learn how to help each other.” Ben added, “It was a long, fun journey.”
Cakes cut and punch poured for the reception, the Rowe family mingled with guests at the Alliance Senior Center. Scouting could bring them together to celebrate again someday, when Ty said he may have his own kids. “I hope I could be a scoutmaster in the future and take what I’ve learned and keep Scouting going,” Bry said.