Daniel J. Reilly III – July 1938
Daniel J. Reilly, III was born on May 21, 1920 at St. Mary’s Hospital in Buffalo, NY. His father, Daniel J. Reilly, Jr. (12/09/1887 – 09/25/1952) received his Law Degree from Cornell University after serving as an Infantry Captain in WWI. Dan Jr. met his wife Frances in San Antonio, TX while posted there with the U.S. Army. Through an attorney, he worked as a hotel administrator, usually charged with unenviable task of setting to right the affairs of inns that were failing. Dan’s mother, Frances Maria Augusta Haack (01/05/1898 – 06/10/1978) was a homemaker.
Dan and his family relocated several times during his early years, first to Niagara Falls, NY, then to Buffalo, NY, then to Erie, PA, back to Buffalo, NY, and finally back to Erie, PA where he graduated from St. Patrick’s grammar school. Dan started High School at the Strong Vincent High School in Erie, but finished his secondary education at the Lakewood High School on June 9, 1938 in Cleveland, OH. He started his college career at DePaul University in Chicago, but did not graduate until June 1948 due to his service hiatus during WWII. After induction in the Army Air Force on May 28, 1942, he received a score of 153 out of a possible 160. Dan attributes his outstanding performance on the exam due in large part to his training as Scout. After basic training he eventually became a staff sergeant in the Instrument Shop in Oxfordshire, England. It was his duty to keep the instruments and flights controls in top working order for the pilots who flew the Lighnings and Spitfires of the R.A.F. Dan was demobilized on November 1, 1945, having received two Good Conduct Medals, the European Theater of Operations medal, the American Theater medal, and the Victory medal. Most recently he was a member of the Honor Flight Chicago to Washington, D.C. on May 11, 2011.
The trail of Scouting started on Dan’s 12th birthday in 1932 with Troop 44 in Erie, PA. Dan relates an experience that drew him to the Scouting program even before officially joining as a Scout. In 1930, when he was only 10 years old, the elder Mr. Reilly took Dan to Indianapolis with him for a convention. The guest of honor was Admiral Byrd the great South Pole explorer. On his first expedition, the Admiral selected an Eagle Scout – Paul Siple to join the expedition. Since Paul and Dan were the only two kids at the convention and Paul was from Erie, PA, the two become fast friends, with Dan even riding in the limousine with Paul and the Admiral for the big parade. At that moment, Dan knew in his heart he was destined to become an Eagle Scout and was so anxious to join the movement that he lied to his parish priest about his age to try to join at age 11. His mother would have nothing of it and forced Dan to go the rectory to “confess” his lapse of judgment. The extra year’s wait did not dampen Dan’s spirits, and one year to the day later he returned enthusiastically to the rectory to join Troop 44.
Due to his frequent moves as a child, he was a member of several troops and received his Eagle Badge in 1938 while a member and Junior Assistant Scoutmaster of Troop 184 sponsored by St. Rose of Lima Parish in Cleveland, OH. In 1935, while serving as the Senior Patrol Leader of Troop 52, Dan was selected to attend the First National B.S.A. Jamboree (which was cancelled due to a polio epidemic) – Dan still has his I.D. card, one patch, and two neckerchiefs that were issued for the attendees. Dan earned a total of 51 merit badges during his Scouting tenure and reminds people that in those days, one could earn merit badges as an adult. Due to the work situation of the troop’s Scoutmaster, Bill Miller, Dan essentially served as Scoutmaster until relocating to Chicago in 1940. While in Cleveland, he served on Camp Staff in 1938 and 1939 and encountered an out-of-council Scout wearing a white sash with a red arrow. It would be another twelve years before Dan, then serving as the Scoutmaster of Troop 788 in Blue Island, IL would become a candidate for Ordeal membership in the Order of the Arrow. Dan credits his uncle William A. Sinnott for bringing him to Chicago. At the close of WWII when jobs were scarce for returning veterans, Uncle Bill, then an Assistant Superintendent at U.S. Steel South Works in Chicago, called Dan and offered him a job. With his bride in tow, Dan and Marion relocated to Blue Island, and the rest is still history.
Dan remembers well a man named D. Gregory Badger who served as a Field Executive (District Executive) in Cleveland. It was Greg who influenced Dan to develop his knowledge and skills by encouraging him to take all of the Leader Training Courses available in the Cleveland Council. While a youth member Dan served on the staff of The Cleveland Council Camp at Chagrin Falls, OH. It was there that he met Mr. Krueger and Sterling Martin, the camp naturalists in 1938 and 1939 who led him to a deeper knowledge and lifelong love of Nature.
Dan’s induction into Moqua Chapter in May 1952 at the Indiana Dunes State Park was begun with a tap-out, followed by being led in pitch darkness into the wilds of the Dunes and left alone for the night. At sunrise Dan climbed a tree to get his bearings, but saw nothing but a forest of trees. After wandering back to camp he then had to build a fire with one match and cook an egg with no utensils. Friendships made that weekend lasted a lifetime.
William F. Clemmons was the only Vigil member of Wipunquoak Chapter when it was formed in 1954 with the dissolution of Moqua Chapter into district-defined Order of the Arrow chapters. Over the next years, Dan attended both Camp Blackhawk and Camp West at Owasippe as an adult leader and as a volunteer staffman; he remembers spending most of the summer with Ron Temple in 1967 as a tent-mate.
After a meeting in Bob St.Aubin’s basement at a Chapter Officers meeting in 1961, Dan was unofficially “tapped-out” for the Vigil Honor. He kept his Vigil faithfully at Camp Dan Beard in August 1961. Given the blur of events that day and night, Dan remembers more of the Vigil inductions of his two sons, Mike and Jay, than he does his own. His Vigil name is most appropriate: Wetochwink Chweli – Father of Many. During his Scouting years Dan is remembered for his leadership of the Wipunquoak and Ojibwa Chapters of Burr Oak and Chippewa Districts, respectively, in the Blue Island, Palos, and Alsip areas. He was probably the longest service District Advancement Chairman known to that area, and sat on innumerable Eagle Boards of Review. One never feared Mr. Reilly’s presence on a review Board, but it was clear that second rate was not going to be good enough to get him to sign off on the necessary paperwork!
Dan met the love of his life, Campfire girl Marion Mick on September 3, 1941. They were married on May 25, 1942, three days before Dan entered military service. At the time of Marion’s death in 2006, they had been married for 64½ years. Like most Scouting wives, Marion graciously allowed Dan to become the Scoutmaster of Troop 788, when their eldest son was only 5 year old! They had nine children, Michael, Maureen, Roseanne (who died in March 1971), Martha, James (Jay), Laura, Robert, Brian, and Patrick. To date, Dan has 33 grandchildren and 26 great-grandchildren!
Outside of Scouting, Dan worked for 37 years at United States Steel – South Works first as laborer in the Mason Department, and ultimately as an Instructor of Instrument Apprentices and Foreman in the Fuel Utilization Department. Ironically, Dan’s boss was Gerald C. Primm, himself an early Eagle Scout in Chicago and a Vigil Member from the Owasippe Lodge #7 Class of 1930. Dan was also a familiar fixture as a substitute teacher from 1980-1995 at the Chicago Archdiocesan Schools and Marist High School, often teaching French, a second language in which he is beautifully fluent.
One of the joys of longevity is the ability to spend long periods of productive time even after retirement. One is never certain if Mr. Reilly ever really retired or just wandered off to devote his time to other interests. After leaving U.S. Steel in 1977, Dan volunteered as docent at the Webber Resource Center for the American Indian at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. He also spent 16 summers (1980-1995) as the Nature/Ecology Director at Camp Lowden in Oregon, IL in the Blackhawk Area Council.
To understand the quintessential Mr. Reilly one could review two stories. While taking Woodbadge at Philmont in 1965 the instructor asked the class to splice two ropes together. Not satisfied with simply fulfilling the requirements, Dan decided to do a long splice in the rope. To Dan’s amusement, he had to unsplice the rope to prove to the instructor that there was a splice in the first place! The second involves Order of the Arrow records. With the formation of Wipunquoak Chapter in 1954 after the dissolution of the original chapters of Owasippe Lodge, Mr. Reilly retained minutes of Lodge meetings and Chapter meetings and events dating back to the early 1950’s. He jealously safeguarded this information in two boxes which after almost forty years were finally relinquished to a fellow Arrowman, a Vigil member, whom he had trained personally and was assured would safeguard the customs and traditions with equal diligence for the future generations.
Dan relishes his Vigil Honor because unlike becoming an Eagle Scout, which is the result of hard work in the pursuit of a fixed goal, one does not “work” to become a Vigil member, but instead the Vigil Honor seeks those who devote themselves to a life of cheerful service. In reflecting on life and his affiliation with Scouting, Dan believes that he made a difference in the lives of many boys, and perhaps equally as important – those boys, soon to become men, gave him a deeper understanding of true fulfillment in life.
Mr. Reilly achieved his eternal reward on July 15, 2019, joining his loving wife Marion, and so many other Brothers in the Vigil Honor. As the smoke curls, rising upward may our thoughts reflect on their lives of service and seek to inspire us to the greater good. May he Rest in Peace.
Wipunquoak – Ojibwa – Nuwingi – Achewon Chapter Advisors – 1954-2001
L to R (back row): Vernon V. Sievers (Nuwingi – 1975-1976); Keith I. Williams (Nuwingi 1970-1971); David A. Yost (Nuwingi – 1972-1974), Donald F. Knights (Nuwingi – 1977-1979), Norman C. Buettner (Ojibwa – 1970-1972, 1975-1979)
L to R (front row): Anthony F. Young (Achewon – 1981-1983); Daniel J. Reilly, III (Wipunquoak – 1959-1960,); James M. Mess (Ojibwa – 1967-1968, 1973-1974); Robert L. St.Aubin (Wipunquoak – 1961-1966), Francis J. Podbielski, MD (Achewon – 1984-2001)
Deceased (not shown): William F. Clemmons (Wipunquoak – 1954-1958); William R. Dick (Nuwingi – 1967-1969); Robert R. Gerat (Ojibwa – 1969)
Daniel J. Reilly III (center) is recognized as an Owasippe Lodge #7 Vigil Honoree on November 17, 2012. Presenting the award are Francis J. Podbielski, MD (left) and Lodge Chief Daniel E. Piper (right).