One afternoon in the early 90’s while working at the old Pine Tree Council Office on Auburn St., an older man came in. He was dressed in dirty work clothes and was himself pretty dirty and scruffy looking. He had a picture of a little boy and he said, 'I thought you might like this picture of my brother.' My first thought was that he was some sort of mentally ill homeless person , so I humored him and said something like 'What a cute little boy, what was his name?' The reply was 'Billy'. As I was busy, I did my best to politely walk him out the door, but before he left, something caused me to ask the old man his name. 'Hinds' he said, and everything instantly made sense. 

He told me that his mother had just passed away in a nursing home at over 100 years old, and he had been cleaning out all her belongings (hence the dirty work clothes) and had found the framed photograph. We then had quite a conversation. He told me that his parents were vacationing in Mexico when Billy was killed in Portland. They came back as soon as they could, not an easy feat in the early 1920s. 

As people of wealth they wanted to leave a lasting memorial to William, and so made the gift of the Panther Pond property to the local Boy Scouts who opened Camp Hinds the same year that Lindbergh flew the Atlantic and Babe Ruth hit 60 home runs, 1927. I no longer remember Mr. Hinds name, although I’m sure I passed it around the council as I was promoted and left a short time afterwards. An ironic side fact is that my wife, Lois, at the time a mobile x-ray technician, visited Mrs. Hinds in the nursing home shortly before her death and took a series of chest x-rays. 

Note: The photograph now sits on the fireplace mantle in the rec hall.