Marcellus, Elijah, Kevin Jr. and their father Kevin Williams are all now Eagle Scouts. Kevin Sr. earned the rank in 1983, at the age of 16. Noah Rabinowitz/THE FREE LANCE-STAR Visit the Photo Place

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Family has flock of Eagle Scouts

Local father and three sons soar as Eagle Scouts

BY EDIE GROSS

Date published: 8/17/2007

BY EDIE GROSS

Kevin Williams was hanging out with the wrong crowd, and his mother was having none of it.

So in 1979, Fannie Williams marched her son over to Fredericksburg's Boy Scout Troop 165 and hoped for the best.

"My mother basically did it to me at gunpoint. Boy Scouts saved my life," said Kevin Williams, who would later rise to Eagle Scout, the highest rank available in Scouting. "It gave my mother something she could really smile about."

The entire Williams family is smiling these days. Williams, a Spotsylvania native, earned his Eagle Scout rank in 1983 at the age of 16. At the time, he was told he was the first African-American in the troop's history to do so.

His oldest son, Kevin Jr., now 22, achieved the same honor in 2000. His two younger, Marcellus, 18, and Elijah, 15, continued the family tradition by becoming Eagle Scouts last month.

All three boys have been members of Troop 835 in Spotsylvania.

Kevin Williams Sr. credits his mother, who died in 1991, with the tradition. The wife of a U.S. Marine, she worked two jobs to pay for his Scouting activities and summer camp, where he learned self-reliance.

"It rained. I was wet. I was covered with ticks," he said of one summer at Camp Bonner in North Carolina. "I learned how to make a fire with my knife. When I came out of that experience, I was a new man."

The skills he learned in Scouting helped him during a 24-year career in the Navy, where he served aboard ships in both Gulf wars, Williams said. He retired as a lieutenant commander on July 25, the day his two youngest sons learned they had made Eagle.

Kevin Jr. said he joined Boy Scouts hoping for the fun and adventure that his dad seemed to be having in old photographs. He earned 22 badges on his way to Eagle Scout, his favorite being the swimming badge.

"It was pretty much one of my biggest accomplishments," said Kevin Jr., who is pursuing a criminal justice degree at Germanna Community College in hopes of one day serving in law enforcement. "People look at you differently when you're an Eagle Scout."

Only 5 percent of all Boy Scouts usually advance to Eagle Scout, the highest rank in Scouting. To reach this level, Scouts must show proficiency in leadership, service and outdoor skills. 1,887,138--Eagle Scout awards given out between 1912 and the end of 2006 40--U.S. astronauts who earned the rank of Eagle Scout, including Neil Armstrong and James Lovell Jr. 14.3--Percentage of cadets at West Point and the Air Force Academy who are Eagle Scouts 121--Merit badges available for Scouts, covering everything from horsemanship to farm mechanics 21--Badges that must be earned to qualify for Eagle Scout, including 12 required badges and nine of the Scout's choosing 111.8 million--Merit badges earned by Scouts through the end of 2006. If stacked end-to-end, they'd equal the height of Mount Everest (29,141 feet) 453 times. 11--Brothers in a Las Vegas family who attained the rank of Eagle Scout, the last in 2001 Source: Boy Scouts of America and news reports

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Date published: 8/17/2007

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