Troop 890
Dallas, Texas
Grant Milner Scholarship Fund
The Grant Milner Scholarship Foundation was founded in 1996 to help provide an incentive and reward for the active graduating seniors in Troop 890 who have gone the extra mile in showing leadership for the troop. These scouts, through their participation and leadership by example help so much in the lives of many younger scouts.
As many scouts do, Grant joined the troop at age 10 after completing the Webelo program with Pack 890. One of the first leadership tasks that Grant undertook with the troop was as a Quartermaster. Largely though his work, patrols were held responsible for cleaning the equipment and returning it in good condition. (This should go without saying - right?) Grant served as Patrol Leader at least two terms, several terms as an Assistant Senior Patrol Leader, and two terms as the Senior Patrol Leader. Grant obtained the rank of eagle in 1995. Anyone accomplishing this much in the troop would make them a special person, but this is where Grant’s dedication to Troop 890 really started to show.
Grant graduated from Lake Highlands High School in 1987 and first attended Texas Tech University in Lubbock Texas. Even though he lived far away from Dallas, he still found the time to attend campouts and meetings during school breaks as an Assistant Scoutmaster. After he transferred to North Texas University in Denton, he once again became a regular at almost every Monday night meeting and campout the Troop held. He completed ALT training followed by earning his Woodbadge beads. Woodbadge is the highest level of training for adult Scouters. You can think of ALT as Oak Leaf, and Woodbadge as Golden Acorn, although the adult courses are much more involved and require much more of a time commitment to complete.
At this point, Grant once again took on the task of Quartermaster for the Troop. He continued to stress the importance of taking care of the troop equipment and holding the patrol responsible when it was not. Numerous times he sent Scouts back to their patrol sites on Sunday morning to clean pots and remove food that would spoil from their chuckboxes.
Other than Scouts, Grant’s main interest was flying. As such, he served as a merit badge counselor for the Aviation merit badge. He held classes numerous times at Monarch Air, where he was a flight instructor with several different ratings. Merit badge classes not only allow scouts to progress in rank, but also allows them a glimpse of possible career opportunities or new hobbies.
During a routine trip to San Antonio in December of 1994 Grant lost his life in a private plane crash. Upon approach to the San Antonio airport the engine lost power. The pilot in command panicked and did not restart the engine. With the ignition switch out of Grant’s reach, there was little to do but crash land the plane. Although Grant lost his life that day, his cool thinking and training allowed the other two people on board the plane to walk away.
Troop 890 helped establish the Grant Milner Scholarship Foundation in 1996 to oversee the fundraising, application, and award process for this award. To date, 20 scholarships of $500.00 each have been awarded to deserving young men. If you would like to learn more about this award, or make a donation, please contact the Scoutmaster.