Beginning of the Wa-Hi-Nasa Lodge (1938)
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At Old Camp Boxwell at the Narrows of the Harpeth, on May 21, 1938, Gene Broyles and a ceremony team from Cherokee Lodge 50 performed the first ordeal ceremony for our fledgling Lodge. With their assistance, eight scouts successfully completed the ceremony: Roy Shaub, Hilary Osborn, O. E. Brandon, Jr., Lynn Farrar, Forest Glascow, James Gribble, W. J. Anderson, and Tillman Newsum. This original Ordeal ceremony was made possible due to the help of Dr. Peterson of Franklin.
The charter members chose the name “Wa-Hi-Nasa“, which translated from the Cherokee tongue means “Eagle Lodge”or according to the original charter Lair of Eagles. An Eagle with outspread wings was chosen as the lodge totem. This first group of members did their share of work to make sure that the Wa-Hi-Nasa Lodge grew. W. J. Anderson served as the Scout Executive, James Gribble served as the Nashville Area council as the Assistant Scout Executive and three of these new Brothers were staff members of Nashville’s scouting newspaper, “The Bugle.” With three founding members, The Bugle and its staff were invaluable in publicizing the Order of the Arrow and the Wa-Hi-Nasa lodge to the members of the Nashville Area Council.
During the summer of 1938, Roy Shaub was elected as the lodge’s first chief, and W.J. Anderson, Scout Executive of the Nashville Council, served as the Supreme Chief of the Fire. As the summer camp continued to elect new members, two more staff members from “The Bugle” were elected: Don McMillan and James Kilgore. At the time, McMillan was editor of “The Bugle,” and James Kilgore was associate editor. Immediately after McMillan’s induction, he was elected Lodge Scribe. After the original Ordeal, approximately five people were inducted into the Ordeal each week of summer camp at Camp Boxwell.
At this time, there were many differences in the Order when compared to today. Candidates were elected to the Order from their peers at each week of summer camp not their individual units, yes the entire encampment. Another difference was that once an Arrowman completed the Ordeal they wore their Ordeal Sash over the left shoulder and when the Arrowman was inducted in the second degree (the Brotherhood Honor), there was not a new sash but the Ordeal sash was worn over the right shoulder.
By the end of that year’s camping season the Wa-Hi-Nasa lodge had grown to 32 members. Six of these Arrowmen went as the Lodges first contingent to the National Grand Lodge meeting. This, the 12th meeting of the Grand Lodge, occurred on September 3rd – 5th at Irondale Scout Reservation in Irondale, Missouri. This meeting was the precursor to what we now know as the National Order of the Arrow Conference (NOAC). These six brothers were; Roy Shaub, Don McMillan, James Kilgore. James Gribble, Lynn Farrar, and Tillman Newsum. After the three day event, those six members returned to Nashville, much like our members today do from a NOAC, with a huge amount of enthusiasm and a passion to build the Wa-Hi-Nasa Lodge program.
The December issue of the National Bulletin has a small update from the Wa-Hi-Nasa Lodge. This article quotes Assistant Scout Executive James Gribble as the Order of the Arrow was the highlight of the Camping season. The he goes on to talk about the lodges first steak fry that the Arrowmen invited their sweethearts.
