For Cedarhurst native Rick Lorenz, being a Boy Scout was a foundational part of his life. He had an opportunity to pay that experience forward on Jan. 27, donating some of his military artifacts and patches to BSA Troop 20 in Hewlett.
Lorenz shared his wisdom and stories with 20 scouts. Though he now lives in Tacoma, Wash., Lorenz, 79, was a member of Troop 20 from 1957 to 1960, when it was headquartered in Cedarhurst before disbanding in 2013.
When Lorenz was a scout, troop meetings were held in the gym of what was then known as Lawrence School Districts’ Public School No. 5. The troop had a small room for flags and equipment.
In 2019, when Eugene Corless and his family reassembled the troop in Hewlett, he came across a virtual Vietnam memorial wall on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall of Faces website. Lorenz had created a touching tribute to Sgt. George Camomere, a U.S. Army 8th Cavalry soldier and a former Troop 20 member whom Lorenz admired for his physical prowess and mental toughness.
Corless, the troop’s current scoutmaster, and Lorenz had the chance to connect in January 2025. Lorenz promised to stop by a meeting in the troop’s Hewlett headquarters, at Trinity St. Johns Episcopal Church, on Broadway, the next time he was in town.
Lorenz graduated from Marquette University in 1968, served as a judge advocate in the U.S. Marine Corps, and was part of the First Marine Expeditionary Force in 1992, serving in Bosnia as a senior legal adviser for the NATO implementation force in 1996. After retiring as a colonel in 1998, he became a senior lecturer at the University of Washington’s Jackson School of International Studies, teaching courses like humanitarian law.
He credits much of his life’s success to Boy Scouts, having grown up in a single-parent household without a father.
“It was a beginning for me,” he told the Herald.
He recalled taking part in a water-boiling contest at a scout jamboree, for which then Scoutmaster Paul Baynes gave Lorenz and his partner, Eugene Kushner, pitch pine instead of regular wood so the fire they built would burn more intensely, and boil water faster.
“When lit, the pitch pine was literally a torch,” Lorenz said, recalling their winning 62-second boiling time. “Our scoutmaster had developed a way to give us an advantage over the other troops.”
The patches and artifacts he donated to Troop 20 will be mounted in an archival frame and hung on a wall at its headquarters.
“It’s with enormous pride that we will be displaying and preserving them,” Corless said, “so future generations of scouts can understand Rick’s legacy as someone who has served our country.”
Conor Corless, 17, Eugene’s youngest, who is working toward Eagle Scout, said that Lorenz’s visit last week changed his perspective, and made him “think more outward.”
“Never thought about what my life might look like outside of scouting,” Conor said. “I never thought about its influence.”
Lorenz reflected on some of the differences between the past and the present. When he was in scouting, he said, he moved on when he was 14 to become an Explorer, which is now known as an Adventure Scout. Now, scouts ages 11 to 18 remain in their troop. Conor said he was captivated, because Lorenz offered perspective on the way the Boy Scouts used to operate.
Conor also found it interesting to hear Lorenz talk about his time in the Reserve Officer Training Corps at Marquette in the late 1960s, and being an Adventure Scout when he was younger.
Some of the older scouts agreed. “They found it was an interesting topic,” Conor said. “Many kids raised their hands, asking questions.”
Lorenz clearly made an impression on Conor, who, after seeing the accomplishments of a former scout, expressed his admiration. “He’s living his best life,” Conor said. “Maybe scouting can give me this outlet to become like that.”
Eugene Corless thanked Lorenz for taking the time to visit the troop, saying he offered scouts inspiration and the opportunity to see what’s possible.
“I wanted them to understand that there are no limits to what they can achieve,” Corless said, “and to see someone who was doing exactly what you’re doing moving on to pursue wonderful things.”
Lorenz said it was a pleasure to come back and meet the scouts. As he looked at his box of military memorabilia, he smiled, knowing what he was passing down to the next generation.
“I’m glad I found a home for them,” he said.
