KIRK, Al

Kirk, Al. (Dubuque, IA-- ). Al Kirk suggested in May, 1920 that a weekly section of the Telegraph Herald should be devoted to reporting Scouting news. In addition to making this happen, he began on May 9, 1920 serving as the editor of the Boy Scout's Section of the paper. He was succeeded by Philip Jones after resigning on May 20, 1923. He held this position while an undergraduate at COLUMBIA COLLEGE. (1) In 1951, the National Council of Boy Scouts announced the appointment of Kirk to be the director of Catholic relationships for the National Boy Scout Council.

He began his scouting career as a Scout and served as assistant Scoutmaster in Troop 2 of the cathedral. Kirk served as liaison officer between 540 scout councils and the 130 dioceses of the Catholic church in America. (2) He later moved to Chicago where he began a fifty-year career in professional Scouting. Kirk, a 1929 Virgil Honor member of the Awasippe Lodge #7 of the Order of the Arrow, was the director of the Awasippe Scout camps in Michigan for ten years. (3)

In 1967 Kirk, fifth-year veteran and recently retired executive director of the Boy Scouts of America, addressed a seminar conducted by the Apostolate of Human Relations of the Archdiocese of New York. Kirk's topic was "An Approach to Recruitment of lay Leaders." (4)

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Source:

1. Lewis, Paul W. Scouting in Northeast Iowa 1910-1959, Dubuque, IA, S4 Carlisle Publishing Services, 2017, p. 21

2. "Scout Official, Ex-Dubuquer, To Talk Here," Telegraph-Herald, April 24, 1952, p. 6

3. Lewis

4. "Seminar Address," Telegraph-Herald, November 29, 1967, p. 9