In 1981, the national committee established a new award to memorialize founder Goodman and cofounder Edson, in response to frequent requests from lodges. The Vigil Honor, once a very rare award, was now given much more frequently. With the growth of the Order over the years, many youths chosen for the Vigil Honor continued service in the Order as adults, with adults being inducted as well. Even though the ration of Vigil members remained at two percent annually, lodges continued to look for additional ways to recognize exceptional service carried out over an extended period of time.
With the death of E. Urner Goodman, the national committee decided that the time was right to reinforce the values first established by the founders. They created the Founder’s Award. It was to be available for a maximum of one Arrowmen for every 500 in a lodge annually. This low number limits the award to those truly deserving.
Blue Heron is permitted to present up to two awards annually. (Each lodge is guaranteed at least two awards without regard to total membership.) If multiple awards are presented, at least one must be a youth and Blue Heron has usually presented the Founder’s Award to one youth and one adult each year.
Blue Heron Lodge Founder’s Award Recipients
* The award was presented to two youths in 1995, 2001, 2002, 2007, 2009, 2016, and 2017
Year
1986 Nicholas M. Cordovana, III H. Wayne Everett
1987 Robert S. McGhee John C. Barnes, Sr.
1988 Linwood Phelps Bill West
1989 Not Awarded Not Awarded
1990 Ronald Ehlers Si Simons
1991 William Hutchings Curtis Gibbs
1992 Robert Loftin Jeff Irving
1993 Steven R. Crawford Bill Thompson
1994 Tony Babb Jr. John Matroni
1995* Ike Tucker Tim Parke
1996 Ben McGinnis Mike Coley
1998 Troy Valos Dave Beedie
1999 Andrew Trent Al Crawford
2000 Chad Wacker G. W. Detterman
2001* Kyle Olcott Danny Hansen
2002* Matthew Goff Adam Hilliard
2003 Wilfred McNeil Bill Stine
2004 Michael Clasing Terry Tucker
2005 Andrew Linke Dale Ward
2006 Wesley Parker Dennis Stewart
2007* Jerry Kane Calvin Whealton
2008 Sean Warren George Coker
2009* Joseph Kippenhan Ian Gibson
2010 Taylor Bobrow Marie Kane
2011 Preston Marquis Ed Hotel
2012 Brendan Kane Renee Wert
2013 A.J. Kelly Robbie Henderson
2014 Kevin Lee Jeff Bobrow
2015 Anthony Peluso John Donat
2016* Andrew Sorrenson Seth Greiling
2017* Brendan Switts Will Scheib
2018 Stephen Greiling Albert Joynes
2019 Reeves Yanez Erich Röetz
2020 Zachary Grinvalsky Sam Grinvalsky
2021 Timothy Zemineieuski Clarence Harrison
2022 Kaitlyn Roetz Andrew Peterson
2023 David Gosik Gene Hoffman