Troop 3 Scoutmaster, Pack 3 Cubmaster influenced thousands
Among other endeavors, Edmund D. Strang was a WWII veteran, Scoutmaster of Troop 3, Cub master of Pack 3, Advisor to Explorer Post 33, Sunday school teacher, an incorporator of the Derby Little League, coach of the Laurels Little League team, past president of the Derby-Shelton Rotary Club, and a member of the Housatonic Council Executive Board.
Strang was a positive influence on thousands of lives. He died in 1995 at 85 years of age. "We are collecting the experiences of people whose lives Ed touched and enriched," said Robert Bednarcik of Oxford.
Gary Scarpa, director of the Shelton High School Drama Club and co-director of Center Stage Theatre remembers Ed.
“I was discovered in the basement of the Methodist Church, known as the red church across from the Derby Green in Derby, Ct., by a talent scout named Ed Strang.”
Bednarcik said Scarpa was so outstanding singing in the (Gang Show) chorus that Ed had him sing “Little Brown Jug” in a duet. Scarpa said Strang “changed the course of my life”.
Robert Feeney, former VP of Pfizer, state, “My life was shaped by just three men, my father, Ed Strang, and a Professor of Chemistry at Yale University. Everything I did and became in my life I owe to these three men who directed my feet in the right paths.”
Alice Costello remembers Ed. In 1960 she received two tickets to the Troop/Pack 3 Gang Show held at the Derby Methodist Church. She became good friends with Ed and Caroline Strang.
Costello said she enjoyed the show so much she later participated in it singing “Second Hand Rose”. She was a Den mother in a Cub Pack in Bridgeport and decided that she would run a similar type program for her Cub Scout Pack. Strang gave her lots of jokes and ideas.
He and Caroline would go to visit her show every year. Costello attended 43 of the Troop/Pack 3 Gang Shows. She remembers taking a group of Cubs to the Troop/Pack 3 Gang Show. One Cub had to go to the bathroom but didn’t come back. She looked all over for him.
When the curtain opened there he was on stage with the chorus crying because the den mothers didn’t believe he didn’t belong to Pack 3. Costello became the first female Cub Master and was awarded the Silver Fawn (equivalent to the Silver Beaver) by the Bridgeport Council.
What do you remember about Ed?
Contact me, Robert Bednarcik, at 203-888-2956, 95 Old Church Road, Oxford, Ct .06478 or at RobertBednarcik@netscape.net.
The above was contributed by Robert Bednarcik.
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