From a Candidate

By Brian Phelps

Fran Petersen was one of the founders of the White Stag program at Pico Blanco in 1959. He met Béla Bánáthy while both were serving Scouting. As I recall, Fran was a Scoutmaster and learned of Béla's interest in youth leadership development. Fran and Béla, along with Joe St. Clair, Maury Tripp, Paul Sujan, and later Paul Hood established the White Stag Program. Fran remained involved off and on for many years.

Experimental Wood Badge course #25-2. Held at Ft. Ord during January and February, 1968, it was staffed by (front, L-R) Fran Petersen, Maury Tripp, Joe St.Clair, George Toole, and Bob Bowman; (rear, L-R) Frank Masamori, John Larson, Louis Lang, John Martin, Chet Frisbie (Asst. Council Scout Executive). Every Scoutmaster then brought his troop to White Stag camp the following summer.

The most distinct memory I have of Fran is from 1969. I remember him leaning on the shady side of a redwood tree in the early afternoon at Pico Blanco Scout Reservation, deep in the coastal redwood forests of the Little Sur River. I was 13 years old attending White Stag Camp for the first time. I was a candidate in Patrol Leadership Development and participating in a teach and learn session. Fran watched from the shadow of a tree, observing quietly. During that week of summer camp, he as Director seemed to be everywhere, moving like a deer through the woods, visible here and invisible the next moment. Only recently did I learn from Fran that he did not like to walk, but would run, the trails. That is how he taught his sons to explore the woods.

In 1974, we had a historic week during summer camp, as it rained nearly every day. I was unprepared for the rain and had to hike out the Mt. Manual trail to check on the condition of one of the Troop Leadership Development crews. Fran lent me his own raincoat, which I proceeded to rip to shreds over the next few days as I bushwhacked through the trails of Pico Blanco and Mt. Manual.

I had a rare opportunity to visit Fran in his home about a month ago, in early May 2002. He told me about his mother, who had been raised by an uncle, as she was illegitimate, but her father and the family wanted to see that she was nonetheless provided for. The uncle received money to raise her every month, and he saved the entire sum for her. She learned of the account upon reaching maturity, but she saved it. Finally, she went into A. P. Gianni's Bank of America and cashed out the entire account -- two days before the Crash of '29. She had a tidy sum and determined that she would build herself a house, which she proceeded to do, in a tiny town far down the Salinas Valley, a little town named Chular. This is where her husband made a living as a mechanic. In 1930 the house she had built had inlaid wood floors, plaster ceilings, and other amenities usually only afforded by the wealthy. This is the house that Fran grew up in.

I was always surprised and delighted when Fran would remember my birthday with a personal note, and after my marriage, my anniversary. I have no idea how he knew my wedding anniversary, but he was very faithful about sending a note or card. I have a feeling that I was one of many similarly flattered by his willingness to take the time to remember us.

He was usually pretty private, preferring not to give out his phone number to most people, and even guarding his address. Yet when asked to do something, he rarely said no, even if it was not convenient. He loved to walk and hike and would regularly, up until the last months of his life, explore the trails of Big Sur and the Ventana Wilderness. George St. Clair, Joe's son and one of the original Senior Patrol Leaders, told me that he and a few friends would regularly invite Fran on hikes, and he rarely said no, even in the last few months as he grew weaker.

Fran was an inspiration to me in the example he set in serving others selflessly, in his curiosity, his visionary thoughts, his intellect, his willingness to go contrary to conventional wisdom and challenge the status quo. I've heard it said that as long as someone is alive in anyone's memory, he has not passed from this earth. In Fran's case, he shall live for a great many years more in the spirit of all those who follow the White Stag.