This year’s 2022 Maury County Good Scout Award recipients were Leesa and Randy Stevens. We were excited to honor Leesa and Randy because of their extensive influence and leadership in Maury County. Leesa graduated from George Peabody College with a Bachelor of Science Degree, Vanderbilt University with a Master’s Degree, and studying at the University of Copenhagen, Mosely said BSA Council. Leesa began her teaching career in the Maury County school system teaching for 8 years and private tutoring for 3 years. She continued her love for teaching by starting a Special Friends Sunday school class at Maury Hills church for special needs adults. Leesa has been referred as an ambassador who quietly helps people in need.
The Good Scout Award recognizes individuals who exemplify the spirit of the Scout Oath and Law by helping others and doing their best at all times. This prestigious award honors those whose personal and public contributions enhance our community and the world in which we live. This award is also the Middle Tennessee Council of the Boy Scouts of Americas highest honor for individual or corporate citizenship in local communities. The Good Scout Award distinguishes those who go above and beyond expectations. It celebrates those who truly make a difference not only because they care but because they act.
Randy graduated from CSCC and MTSU, he began his career in 1973 with First Famers & Merchants Bank, and recently retired as Chairman & CEO. Randy has been active in several community organizations and is proud to have received the CSCC President’s Award of Honor for Distinguished Alumni, and the Boy Scouts Long Rifle Award & the Silver Beaver Award. In 2017, Leesa & Randy were honored by First Farmers & Merchants Bank in the naming of the Randy & Leesa First Farmers Events Center. In 2018, Leesa & Randy were honored by the Youth Educational Foundation for their involvement in its organization. Leesa & Randy have been blessed with 2 children, Rebecca & Branson, and their spouses, and 5 wonderful grandchildren.
In addition to the honoree presentation, we were joined by guest speaker and retired Brooklyn NYC Fire Fighter Niels Jorgensen. On Tuesday, September 11, 2001, firefighter Niels Jorgensen of Brooklyn’s Ladder Company 114 received an urgent radio call. He was to report to the firehouse immediately for a total recall — the first of its kind to be issued in the city in over 30 years.
Soon after arriving, Jorgensen learned he and his fellow firefighters were to commandeer a New York City public bus, drive it over the Brooklyn Bridge and converge on the scene of the worst attack on U.S. soil in American history. As the bus raced into downtown Manhattan a chaotic scene was unfolding. A second hijacked airliner had slammed into the 60th floor of the south tower of the World Trade Center, tearing a gaping hole in the building and setting it afire.
With a fire now raging through the 80th floor of the second 110-story skyscraper, emergency responders began working feverishly to evacuate the building. As New Yorkers raced to escape the city, Jorgensen’s team from Ladder 114 was barreling head-on into the nightmare.
As they neared ground zero, 32-year-old Jorgensen caught sight of the north tower just as it began to collapse from the top down. The voices of fellow firefighters that had been blaring over the radio, including Jorgensen’s childhood best friend John Schardt of Engine 201, went silent. New York’s World Trade Center had been reduced into a tremendous cloud of debris, smoke and wreckage. Four hundred firefighters on the scene perished.
Over the next few months, Jorgensen joined hundreds of sodden rescue workers every day, as they dug through the heaps of ash and twisted metal searching for survivors and victims. After almost 22 years, his firefighting career was cut short by an advanced form of Leukemia diagnosed in 2011, which was attributed to exposure to toxins at 9/11/2001 World Trade Center rescue and recovery operations.
Together at this event where we honored Good Scouts of Maury County in Leesa and Randy Stevens, as well as hear from one who has been tested by acts of cheerful and selfless service, we raised just over $76,000 to support our Scouts in the Frontier District, said Jacob Mosely BSA Frontier District Executive.
