Sevier News Messenger Sevier County News and Opinion
People across East Tennessee will come together with Louise Mandrell to honor Pigeon Forge City Manager Earlene Teaster for her leadership and community spirit when the Boy Scouts of America recognize her with the Sevier County Good Scout Award on March 24, 2015.
The occasion is the Fifth Annual Sevier County Good Scout Award Dinner that benefits the Sequoyah District of the Great Smoky Mountains Council. The Sequoyah District covers all of Sevier County and southeast Knox County. The dinner is at 6 p.m. at the Music Road Hotel and Convention Center in Pigeon Forge.
“Earlene Teaster is one of Sevier County’s quiet leaders. She avoids the spotlight while working diligently to make her city shine,” said Ellen Wilhoit, director of Leadership Sevier and chair of the 2015 Friends of Scouting campaign.
Pigeon Forge has become one of America’s great success stories in family tourism, and Teaster has been involved for decades. She started with the city in 1961 as city clerk and became Tennessee’s first female city manager in 1980. The tourism engine started cranking very quickly, and she was named Tennessee’s City Manager of the Year in 2000.
“I have fond memories of being a Cub Scout den mother and the excitement of Pinewood Derby competition, and I understand the life skills that Scouting develops in our young people,” Teaster said.
Previous recipients of the Sevier County Good Scout Award are Ted Miller, president of Dolly Parton Productions, contractor Sid Blalock, Sevier County Mayor Larry Waters and Gary Wade, chief justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court.
The Boy Scouts’ Great Smoky Mountain Council serves more than 11,000 youth with year-round programs that develop character, leadership, citizenship and physical fitness. The March 24 dinner launches the 2015 Friends of Scouting campaign in Sevier County. The Sevier County goal is $124,000.
The Boy Scouts depend on investments from the community to provide more than 35 percent of the annual budget. Every dollar donated to Scouting is leveraged exponentially by adult volunteer leaders who contribute their time to work with the youth.
March 17 is the deadline for Good Scout Award dinner reservations. Anyone interested in attending or getting a boy involved in Boy Scouts can contact Christian Nelms at 865-310-5515 or Christian.Nelms@Scouting.org.
