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Talidandaganu' Lodge, as it is known today, was chartered in February 1957, but it was preceded by both another OA lodge and a local honor campers society. Five councils in Tennessee, including ours, formed the honor campers society known as "The Tribe of Chickamauga" around 1926. Then in 1939 the council, known as Chattanooga Area Council, began inquires about forming an Order of the Arrow lodge. The council's application for a charter, possibly delayed by World War II, was approved on May 1, 1945.
The first lodge was named Chickamauga, which means "river of death," and taken from the band of renegade Cherokee Indians by that name, led by Chief Dragging Canoe. The totem for this lodge was a beaver. Chickamauga Lodge was basically inactive and disbanded in 1947.
In the fall of 1956, new interest in the Order of the Arrow caused local scouts to petition the National Council in New Jersey for another OA charter. This application was approved on February 4, 1957. Scout Ron Stulce then sent a letter on February 18, 1957, to all Scouts in the council who met the requirements for membership, asking them to contact the council office if they were interested. On June 28-29, 1957, twenty charter members of Talidandaganu' Lodge were inducted at Camp Cherokee in an ordeal ceremony performed by members of Pellissippi Lodge 230 from Knoxville.
The name "Talidandaganu," which in Cherokee means "two looking at each other," refers to Lookout Mountain and Signal Mountain in Chattanooga, which face each other, with the Tennessee River running between. A flying eagle was chosen as the lodge totem. The twenty charter members of Talidandaganu' Lodge 293 are:
Tom Ainsworth Neal Grove Butch Quarles Byron Baker *Jesse Gunn Paul Rouse Dean Biskey Robert Hines Sid Shelton Cliff Bowers, Jr. John Jenkins Tom Simmons Pierce Corden John Newell Ron Stulce Bill Goins *Jim Noel John Wilson Tommy Green George Norris
*These were members of the council professional staff.
The first Brotherhood ceremony was held in July of 1958, performed again by a team from Pellissippi Lodge of the Great Smoky Mountains Council. Eleven Talidandaganu' members were inducted into the brotherhood at that time. In 1963, the lodge's first Vigil Honor ceremony was held to present Tommy Chamberlain, James T. Pierce, and Ron Stulce with the Vigil Honor.
Our lodge members conducted the second Ordeal ceremony at Camp Cherokee on November 8-9, 1957 with nine new members being inducted. Then on July 18-19, 1958, another 25 new members were inducted during the lodge'sthird Ordeal ceremony. The second Brotherhood ceremony on October 11, 1958 saw eight members sealing their membership in the order. The fourth Ordeal ceremony inducted 35 new members and the fifth, held in September 1960 at Camp Tsatanugi, added another nineteen. At the Spring Ordeal in June of 1989, our lodge inducted its first female member, Jo Ann McKinney. Jo Ann's husband, Larry Myers McKinney (AKA"Fox Jim") was an early member of Talidandaganu' Lodge and remained active in all aspects until his death in July 1996. In June 1990, Jo Ann went through Brotherhood and at the Fall Ordeal in October 1995, she became the first female member of our lodge to be awarded the Vigil Honor.
Since 1957, Talidandaganu' Lodge has been active in Area and National Conferences. In 1965, our lodge hosted the first Area V-D conclave at the Patton Hotel in downtown Chattanooga. The ceremony competitions and outside activities during the conference were held on Lookout Mountain. With the rearrangement of OA sections in the early 70's, Talidandaganu' Lodge had the honor of hosting the first SE-IIA conclave at Camp Cherokee in April 1973. This was the last council activity held at Camp Cherokee before moving to Skymont Scout Reservation in the summer of 1973.
The SE-IIA section conclave in 1979 and the Diamond Jubilee SE-6 section conclave in 1985 were also hosted by Talidandaganu' Lodge, each at Skymont in Altamont, Tennessee. When the lodges realigned again in 1993, our lodge got the privilege of hosting the first SR-6 conclave at Skymont. Twelve lodges with members from Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, Indiana, and Virginia were in attendance. Talidandaganu' also had the honor of hosting the SR-6 South Conclave at Skymont Scout Reservation in 2002. Eight lodges attended.
Talidandaganu' Lodge has had active dance and ceremonial teams at various times throughout the years. At the Area V-D conclave in 1972 at Boxwell Scout Reservation, Middle Tennessee Council, a newly formed Talidandaganu' Lodge dance team performed the Hopi Snake Dance using live snakes. It was a very impressive presentation and created quite a stir. The judges were set to award our team first place when it was pointed out that the snake dance is a religious ceremony and therefore not allowed for competition.
In 1988 the lodge ceremonial team won first place in competition at the SE-6 conclave. Then at the National Order of the Arrow Conference that year in Colorado, our ceremonial team received the award for fourth place overall in the nation. The following are the team members with their individual national rankings:
Allowat Sakima Teddy Shelton 2nd place Meteu Brad Pope 3rd place Kichkinet Billy Durkin lst place Nutiket Brian Glover
Numerous section/area and region OA leaders have called Talidandaganu' Lodge their home.
Mr. Bill Ketron, past section advisor and Southeast Region OA Chairman belonged to our lodge before relocating to Middle Tennessee. In 1981, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Award for long-standing leadership and service.
In 1976, at the SE-IIA conclave at Skymont, Dave Worland of Talidandaganu' was elected Section Chief. Later that year at the National Planning meeting in Knoxville, Dave was elected by his fellow southeast section chiefs to the office of SE Region Chief, the first region chief to come from Tennessee. For his service and leadership, Dave was presented the Distinguished Service Award at the 1979 National OA Conference.
Another SE Region Chief who was first a member of our lodge was Alan Cooper, who served as region chief from 1981 to 1983. Alan started his leadership as Ocoee Chapter Chief, and later when his family moved to Alabama, he became section and then region chief while a member of Alibamu Lodge.
Our 1986 lodge chief, Teddy Shelton, was elected SE-6 section chief at the 1990 conclave at Roane State College. Then at the regional meeting he was elected Southeast Region Chief for 1990. Other members who have been elected Section Chief have included Kevin Martin and John Thomas. Of course countless members of our lodge have served cheerfully at conclaves, National Leadership Seminars, and NOAC's over the years in many areas such as registration, competition, training, shows, facilities, and security. We are proud of each and every one of these brothers who sacrificed their own interest in serving others!
Our current lodge chief is Trey Watkins. The following is a list of the past lodge chiefs of Talidandaganu' Lodge. Each have given of themselves cheerfully to promote the high ideals of the Order of the Arrow and are well versed in Scouting:
56-58 Byron Baker 77-78 Stuart Goza 01 John "JT" Thomas
58-59 Tommy Ainsworth 78-79 Gene Reece 02 Tyler Gray
59-60 John Jenkins 79-80 Everette Ingram 03 Colin Rymer
60-61 Craig Tennant 80-81 Adam Quirk 04 Josh French
61-62 Bob Hines 81-82 Chris Alexander 05 Trey Watkins
62-63 Ron Stulce 82-83 Greg Roberson
63-64 Stanley Workman 83-84 Kendall Kaylor
64-65 Stan Roberts 85 Brad Pope
65-66 Fred Yattoni 86 Teddy Shelton
66-67 Bill Workman 87 Michael Harris
67-68 Eddie Pruett 88 Gregory Harris
68-69 Sandy Smith 89 Brian Glover
69-70 Jim Holt 90 Steve Barham
70-71 Dave Leitner 91 Kevin Martin
71-72 Phil Ledbetter 92 Ian Pearson
72-73 Russell Hill 93 Ken Mahon
73-74 Mike Flynn 94 Bryan Martin
74-75 Rick Pierson 95 Adam Russell
75-76 David Worland 96-98 Brian Smith
76-77 Craig Troxler 99-00 Matt Murphy
The highest award the Lodge can bestow upon a member is the Founders' Award. Since the award's beginning in 1981, the lodge has awarded several of these awards. These individuals represent the best the Order has to offer, and these individuals truly reflect a life of cheerful and unselfish service to others.
1997 Mike Payne
1998 Tom Miller, Sr.
1999 John R. Hawkins, Sr.
2000 Mike Reynolds
2001 Harvy Raper
2001 John "JT" Thomas
2002 Bob Crawford
2003 Kevin Martin
2004 Ron Stulce
In addition to the fine youth leadership, the lodge has had outstanding Scouters to guide the direction of our officers over the past 40 years. Each of these men have distinguished themselves as excellent examples of Arrowmen. Below is the list of lodge advisors in the order they served the lodge-.
1.Victor Harris
