Del Loder: a Lifetime of Achievement
This week at NOAC, Del Loder is the fourth person ever to be awarded one of the
most prestigious awards in the Order of the Arrow: The Lifetime Achievement Award.
Del is a Vigil Honor member of T'Kope Kwiskwis lodge in Seattle, WA. Del has been
involved in scouting for over 60 years.
The requirements for this award are few, but arduous. Recipients must be a Vigil Honor Member, a Distinguished Service Award recipient, and a member of the Order of the Arrow for at least 25 years, in addition to demonstrating continued service to the Order on a national, regional, or sectional level. The award is intended to recognize only those Arrowmen who have deeply influenced and significantly contributed to the vision, direction, and growth of the Order of the Arrow. They also need to have faithfully demonstrated a lifetime of servant leadership and through their daily life, illuminated and reinforced the significance of the values found in the Scout Oath and Scout Law.
At the age of seven, Del's father took him to a "Scout Circus" in Seattle. Afterwards, his father took him to the floor where he had the opportunity to shake hands with the founder of the Boy Scouts of America, Sir Robert Baden-Powell. When Del was 19 and an assistant scoutmaster, he made a list of scout leaders that he wanted to meet. On that list was Dr. E. Urner Goodman, the founder of the Order of the Arrow. Surprisingly, the OA wasn't a topic on Del's agenda when he talked to Mr. Goodman. He wanted to speak with Dr. Goodman to learn how he went about organizing the first National Scout Jamboree in the U.S. In their conversation, Dr Goodman asked Loder if he was a member of the Order of the Arrow, which he was not. In fact, there wasn't even a lodge in his council. This got the ball rolling in his council to get a lodge chartered and on July 3, 1954, Del was inducted into the Order of the Arrow.
Although Del was never in the Order as a youth, he worked very closely with the ceremonies team as an adult. In that time, the Order of the Arrow was still very much adult run, giving him a chance to be Meteu, the storyteller in the ceremonies. Del sees the ceremonies as the most important part of the OA because they explain everything about the Order. His favorite part of any ceremony is in the Ordeal ceremony when Allowat Sakima says, "You are now entitled to all rights and privileges of the Order of the Arrow." Del's advice to young Arrowmen today is, "Know the ceremonies; they are the core of the Order."
Few of us will ever have a chance to soak up the lifetime of wisdom and experience that Del has, but giving him this award will open a window that will let us enjoy some of it. Throughout the past 65 years he has been involved in scouting; his favorite memory is still the first time he stood in front of his scoutmaster and held up the scout sign proudly to recite the Scout Oath and Law.
Revised 8/03/2009