By Tracy Widner - Ontario Argus Observer

PAYETTE -- Girl Scouts may grow up, but they don't really ever have to leave the fold. Virgina Gammons of Payette is living proof of this. Gammons and her husband, Ed, moved into a log home on Hill Road in November to enjoy retirement and take advantage of rural living.

Girl Scouts USA was part of Gammons' life for 23 years, as she moved from volunteer troop leader, to paid  employee and up through the corporate ranks.

    Her association with the organization initially started out of concern for her daughter.  During her college years at Washington State University, Gammons -- who was majoring in police science -- met a handsome Norwegian skier. After receiving her bachelor's degree, she joined the Navy and married the skier.  For four years the couple lived in Denmark and Norway.
    "I spoke only Norwegian outside the home," Gammons said.
    As her daughter neared school age, the military mom decided to become a volunteer Brownie troop leader.

    "I figured my life, and that of my daughter's, would primarily be spent overseas," Gammons said. "I thought the Girl Scouts would be a solid foundation for my daughter. It would be something she could be part of no matter where we lived, it would keep her in touch with America, American values and give her permanence."
    The first marriage failed, but Gammons stuck with Girls Scouts USA.
    After 13 years as a volunteer she clinched a paid job with the organization in 1974.
    "I was remarried by then and my husband was a fighter pilot in the Air Force. We were living in Anchorage, Alaska, and the job came open and I thought I was qualified, so I applied and got it."

    As the military moved the family around, Gammons was always able to find a place and a job with Girl Scouts.
    In 1981, Gammons was transferred to Europe. In Europe the well-traveled woman was in charge of bringing Scouting opportunities to the daughters of American military men and women. Mainly stationed in Mannheim, Germany, she also made treks to Guam, Saipan and Panama several times a year to train staff there.
    Gammons retired from Girl Scouts USA in 1997 and she and Ed lived in Florence, Ariz., for a time. When Florence began to lose its rural charm and experience growing pains, the Gammons' decided to pick up stakes.

    "We looked all over the country really, but decided we wanted to live in Idaho, then we narrowed it down to the Payette-Weiser are as. We like rural life. We like to hunt and fish and don't like big cities at all," she said.
    Indeed, Idaho and its outdoor pursuits fits the couple like a glove.
    The Gammons home is adorned with trophies from their many hunting trips around the world. Included in their showplace are zebra skins and the mounted-heads of water buffalo, big horn sheep, an ibex, deer, elk, a wild
hog and more.
    "We love big game hunting ... all hunting really," Virginia Gammons said. 
"The one thing I would still like to hunt is a Sable in South Africa, but that is very expensive."

    Girl Scouts USA has changed over the years as women have moved from the kitchen and into the workplace, but Gammons contends it was always ahead of its time.
    "The founder of Girls Scouts, Juliet Lowe had an aviation badge in the very first Girl Scout manual. Imagine that, Girl Scouting was founded nearly 100 years ago and there was an aviation badge for girls! Juliet Lowe didn't require the girls to know how to fly, but she wanted them to know about a science and technology of the future. I think that is pretty forward thinking and that is what Girl Scouts is still about today."

(C) 2002 Ontario Argus Observer   Reprinted by permission