BRIAN WHITT/CONTRIBUTING WRITER

bmwhitt@mail.roanoke.edu

FRANKLIN—While attending Saturday’s Girl Scout reunion at Franklin’s Camp Darden, Jennifer Megow and her daughter, Bailey, shared a story that’s stayed afloat for two generations.

Jennifer Megow, who lives in Franklin, was always told not to stand in the canoe because it could flip. She remembered someone always tempting fate. Sure enough, someone always ended up in the water.

That was just one of the stories shared by some of the 50 attending the reunion to mark the 100th anniversary of Girl Scouts.

The reunion also celebrated the March 31 retirement of Jan Tyler, who worked for the Girl Scouts for 30 years. Tyler came to Virginia from Missouri and held positions in seven counties in North Carolina and Virginia.

A campfire circle was named after Tyler for her contributions.

She also received a hat with knickknacks attached; all had a significant meaning, including a toy snake the size of a pencil. The story goes that Tyler was bitten by a snake. She remained calm, while everyone panicked.

Tyler drove to the hospital, where a doctor, who could barely speak English, treated her. She remembered him saying, “you have two holes in your hands.”

Tyler led him to a chart with venomous snakes and pointed to the one that bit her, which was enough for the doctor to understand the problem. By then, enough time had passed without a reaction so it was assumed the venom didn’t affect her

Donna Olveira shared the story about overseeing a group of Daisies, who are kindergarteners and first-graders. They awoke to snow during a winter campout and were thrilled.

One of Camp Darden’s newer structures is the Union Camp Building, which includes flush toilets and a kitchen. Inside is a wall with a patch caused by a bear crashing through a window. The bear couldn’t find its way out and tore the building apart.

“He tore everything he could reach apart and even chewed a hole in the wall,” Tyler said.

Eventually the bear found its way out.