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Show Leader returns to Scouting's roots for award A momentous moment in the life of Blazer Maeser Stake Scout Director was being the only known woman to receive her Wood Badge Beads at the site of the first training course for scoutmasters Gilwell Park near London, England. Aleen Barker received her beads in London June 2, 1982 after two years of work to attain the goals she set during Wood Badge training in August of 1980. "When you're finished with the Wood Badge, you're a scouter," Mrs. Barker said. The two wooden beads strung on a leather thong made into a necklace orginate from an African King, and an elderly African who insisted Sir Robert Haden-Powell, scouting's founder, accept it for good luck. Today, tens of thousands of men and women in more than a hundred countries wear the two Wood Badge beads. Mrs. Barker was lucky enough i - i f " " 1 i - ;. Aleen Barker receives Wood Badge beads. to return to Gilwell Park, donated by Sir Baden Powell to scouting, to receive hers. |