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A line from the Boy Scout Law says, “A Scout is loyal.”
The 1998 edition of the “Boy Scout Handbook” defines it: “A Scout is true to his family, friends, Scout leaders, school, and nation.”
That was Harry Black to a T.
He served in the Vietnam War and made the Air Force his first career.
He was an adult Boy Scout volunteer for about 35 years, the same duration as his friendship with Charles Nelson, another Boy Scout volunteer and fellow Bellevue resident.
And since about 1980, Black was involved with Troop 467 in Bellevue.
Black resigned his volunteer scouting positions about three weeks ago, when his health worsened, Nelson said.
Retired Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Harold W. Black, 68, died Thursday at Midlands Hospital in Papillion, Nelson said.
Black died from complications of lung cancer, said Black’s older son, Thomas, of Highlands Ranch, Colo.
Once Black retired from the military, he began working for Harris Corp. in Bellevue. Black had been with Harris about 25 years, the son said.
“His career was in logistical support,” and he worked in that field both in the military and for Harris, Thomas Black said.
“He did so many things” for the Boy Scouts, Nelson said. “He made sure the (Wagon Wheel) District was running on the smoothest keel possible.”
Nelson said that at various times Black was Scoutmaster of Troop 467, chairman of the Wagon Wheel District camping committee, district commissioner (the highest volunteer job in the district) and “deeply involved” with Wood Badge, an advanced leader training.
The Boy Scouts honored Black many times.
Nelson listed some of the awards: Scoutmaster Award of Merit, which requires nomination from the boys; Award of Merit, the highest volunteer award a district can give; and the Silver Beaver, the highest award a council can give.
Through Scouts, Black directly affected “several hundred” boys in Troop 467 and indirectly affected thousands more in his district and Mid-America Council work, Nelson said.
Other survivors include his wife, Carol; son Jeffrey Black of Schuyler, Neb.; and five grandchildren.
Funeral services will be at 2 p.m. Monday at First Presbyterian Church, 1220 Bellevue Blvd. South, in Bellevue.
Contact the writer:
444-1165, sue.truax@owh.com
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