Henry Hill McGinty

Henry H. McGinty, 94, former Boy Scout Executive and Administrative Assistant at Abilene State School died at Hendrick Medical Center on Monday, November 11, 2013. Funeral services will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Friday, November 15, at St. Paul United Methodist Church with Rev. Felicia Hopkins and Rev. Bill Libby officiating. Burial will follow in Elmwood Memorial Park directed by The Hamil Family Funeral Home, 6449 Buffalo Gap Road. The family will receive friends on Thursday, November 14, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. at the funeral home. He was born on August 25, 1919 in Warwick, Rhode Island to Charles A. McGinty and Nina Mae Smith. He grew up during the Depression on a small farm in northeastern Connecticut where he learned the value of love and close family ties. He attended Killingly public schools and graduated from Plainfield High in 1937. He enrolled in the University of Vermont where he met his future wife, Helen Keedy. She preceded him in death on January 6, 1996. They both graduated with B.S. degrees. Because of a heart condition, he was not able to volunteer for military service, so he enrolled in the 78th National Training School for Scout Executives from which he graduated in 1942. He did graduate work at North Texas State University in 1971-72. He joined a Boy Scout Troop in 1933 which laid the foundation for his professional life. He was employed by the Eastern Connecticut Council, Boy Scouts of American from 1936-1940, where he served on the Camp Quinebaug staff. In March, 1942, he was employed as a Field Scout Executive by the Boston Council, BSA where he served until October, 1946. He then became a Field Scout Executive for the Morris Sussex Council, BSA. Because of a health condition of his older daughter, Henry requested employment in the Southwest. In April, 1948 he and his family moved to Tucumcari, NM where he was a District Scout Executive, and then in 1949 moved to Roswell, NM as Assistant Scout Executive. In all of his Boy Scout assignments, he was assigned to camp development and camp programs. Henry and his family came to Abilene in August, 1954 from Roswell, NM when he became the Council Executive for the Chisholm Trail Council, Boy Scouts of America. It was while he was Scout Executive from 1954-1969 that Camp Tonkawa was enlarged by the purchase of additional property, construction of the dining hall, building the permanent campsites, construction the Camp Chapel, construction of the Camp Ranger’s home, etc. The council added three counties to the west and enjoyed a large increase in the number of Scouts served. He was a leader in all Scout activities during that time, such as the Council Camporees, Adventures in Citizenship, National Jamborees, Timber Tag Training, Cub Scout Pushmobile Derbys, Cub Scout Training, etc. He wrote his recollections of the Chisholm Trail Council, BSA during his tenure and presented it as part of the Council’s 75th Birthday Celebration in 1996. At his retirement party in August, 1969 the Dining Hall at Camp Tonkawa was named in his honor. The Texas Rehabilitation Commission and Abilene State School were developing a joint project to prepare those qualified residents of the school for community placement. He was hired to be the director of the Evaluation & Training Center at the school in November 1969. During his tenure in this position, several hundred residents of the school were prepared for community living. In 1974 he was asked to become the Administrative Assistant at the school with the responsibilities of implementing the ICF/MR standards. He remained in this position until retirement in 1981. He and his family have been active members of St. Paul United Methodist Church since they arrived in Abilene. He had served on many committees, official boards, as Church School Superintendent and Sunday School Class president, as Chairman of the Building Project that added the north wing on the educational building, and as Church Historian. Henry had been a member of the Kiwanis Club for 66 years, and had served as Secretary and Assistant Secretary of the Kiwanis Club of Abilene for 27 years. He wrote a History of the Abilene Kiwanis Club in 1997. Over the past years, he had served on the boards of many organizations in Abilene including the Chamber of Commerce, YMCA, Boys Ranch, Boys and Girls Clubs, West Texas Genealogical Society, as President of the Sons of the American Revolution, Mayflower Descendants, Founders and Patriots of America, Volunteer Weatherization Program, administrative board of the Chisholm Trail Council, BSA, as Assistant State Director of American Association of Retired Persons, as President of Friendship Class at St. Paul United Methodist Church, and taught computer classes at Rose Park Senior Center. He had been honored by having been awarded the Mend-A-Child Agape Award, the Boy Scouts Silver Beaver Award, the Boy Scouts James E. West Fellow Award, the Kiwanis Club George Hixon Award, Kiwanian of the Year 1984-85, Kiwanis Outstanding Secretary Award, Kiwanis Legion of Honor, and Pride of Abilene Award. Henry is survived by two daughters, Ruth Thompson “Goodie”, and Helen Collins “Happy” both of Abilene; five grandchildren, Barbara Thompson Lasquete (Vernon) of Tucson, AZ, Benjamin Thompson of Mobile, AL, John M. Thompson, Jr. (Maggie) of Salem, VA, C. David Collins of Abilene, and Catherine Collins-Vecino (Mauricio) of Arlington, TX; and four great-grandchildren, Miles Henry Thompson, Elizabeth Maggie Thompson, Michael Javier Lasquete, and Gabriella Ilona Vecino. Memorials may be made to St. Paul United Methodist Church, P O Box 3396, Abilene, TX 79604; Boy Scouts of America, 1208 N. 5th St., Abilene, TX 79601; or a favorite charity.