Ruth Danner of Guymon just broke out in song during the meeting. “Make new friends, but keep the old; one is silver and the other gold.” Not only did she lead the committee through all verses of the song, she brought some huge smiles to faces. Danner does that well.

This lady, who probably qualifies for the over 55 discount in some stores, fits the perfect stereotype of a Girl Scout leader. She started on the Girl Scout road early. In second grade Danner joined Scouts and her leaders were Mrs. Longbrake and Mrs. Kippenberger.

Danner has saved an article in the March 5, 1954, Guymon Daily Herald reported, “Guymon’s Girl Scouts have one of the most active program in Oklahoma … Five hundred and eighty seven persons gathered at Guymon high school auditorium Thursday night at the Girl Scout Council of Awards.”

Over the next years Danner remembers the troops planting a lot of the trees at Thompson Park and camping at Red River, NM.

The Girl Scout Round Up in 1959 had Girl Scouts from all over the world who were 16 – 18 years old gathering in Colorado Springs. A patrol had eight girls and there were four patrols in a group. The Oklahoma patrol was the Buffalo patrol.

“We took the train from Dalhart to Colorado Springs,” recalls Danner with a grin. “Then we got on a bus and they took us to the camp.” The Oklahoma group included two girls from Spearman, Texas; four from Guymon; one from Beaver; and one from Texhoma.

The Buffalo patrol had to do a skit and did an Indian Dance, a buffalo hunters dance, recalled Danner.

To prepare to go to the Round Up the scouts were required to have done two weeks of primitive camping, so they spent two weeks at Palo Duro Canyon. “All they had then was a train station and a drink station,” says Danner. “Hot, oh my goodness, it was hot.”

When Danner’s daughter started first grade, her mother was her leader and continued to be until her daughter graduated in 1988.

“I sent her to camp in fifth grade,” said Danner. “That was in 1981.” The next year Danner went to camp as a leader, soon became the cook, and continued going to Girl Scout Camp until 2001.

In 1994 they took a group from the Yucca Girl Scout Council (headquartered in Guymon) to the Girl Scout Chalet in Switzerland. That was 1994 and included Sherry Hawthorne of Guymon and Vickie Bettis of Perryton. From Guymon the girls were Brandie Hawthorne, Jamie Stavig, Shanda Blake, and two girls from Perryton.

Her first time at camp Danner became known as Spunky. Everyone was required to have a camp nickname and Danner said she didn’t have a nickname but her husband’s nickname when he was a kid was Spunky. She chose that name and laughs when she says people said, “Oh, that name fits you.

“I’ve lost a lot of that spunk as I’ve gotten older,” Danner laughs. But she still enjoys camping with the grandkids.

Other than being a troop leader and camp cook,

Danner also served over the years as trainer and service unit manager. And this year she has stepped back in the Girl Scout world and is on the committee planning the March 100^th Birthday Party for the Scouts. The event is going to take place on March 10, and includes many fun Girl Scouting activities.

If you’re a former Girl Scout or Girl Scout leader, please send your name and email address to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . And if you would like to catch up with some of the Girl Scout memories and camp on facebook, go to https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/381559550279/.

Ruth Danner and Mary Ann Shaddy work on the Yucca Girl Scout Council van during a Girl Scout trip in the summer of 1987.


Ruth Danner in Switzerland getting a good look at an iceberg.


Ruth Danner at Girl Scout Camp as a medieval prisoner.