In 1975 a Girl Scout Ambassadors troop in Los Gatos embarked on a big trip. At the time, the term Ambassador did not mean what it has since 2008, which is a membership category for ages 16-18. In 1975, the Ambassador program encouraged girls who moved to a new town to join Girl Scouting in their new neighborhood.
Back then, our local Ambassador GS troop took four years to plan their eight-week tour of Europe.
Ambassadors
MarLyn Rasmussen grew up in British Columbia and was a Girl Guide there before becoming a Girl Scout troop leader here. With the Scout manual, love of travel and good organizational skills, she was a natural troop leader. Rasmussen thought, why not take the troop to Europe? So Liz (Robertson) Crites, Mary (Miller) Vickers, Michelle (Sines) Nelson, Maureen (Brennan) Duggan, Patti (Dresbach) Shore, Beth Newick and her mom, Dottie Newick, did just that.
But how to pay for a trip to Europe? In the early ’70s, these ambassador scouts began raising funds for their Europe tour: rolling up newspapers and selling them to florists, collecting Christmas trees, and other odd jobs that came their way. For four years they banded together, anticipating a European tour.
Cultures and exchange rates
Prior to the European tour this troop visited airline offices and toured San Francisco and Sacramento. They were learning how to travel together. This troop also studied the countries of Europe. This also was all prior to electronic devices.
Touring Europe with teenagers
Rasmussen is a brave soul for taking the Ambassadors to Europe. Seven teenagers and Rasmussen, along with two other chaperones, set off on this Ambassador Grand European Tour adventure. While in Switzerland they stayed at GS World Center, “Our Chalet.”
On June 25, while doing crafts as Girl Scouts do, the “girls” reflected on the eight weeks in Europe 50 years ago, to the date. At Rasmussen’s house, while reviewing the scrapbook with them, I asked Liz Crites what it meant to be in scouting, and she went back to young Brownie days remembering her uniform. Crites was in junior high school in 1975, when they traveled to Europe. Eight weeks, costing each girl around $5,000.
The definition of ambassador, from the Girl Scouts of America website: “They’re the ones telling the world about what we do—giving young people the skills to succeed. They broadcast to millions on TV and radio. They’ve made history walking rivers, reaching poles and travelling the world. All are committed to Scouts and none are afraid to break the mold.” And this early version of Ambassadors did that.
MarLyn Rasmussen’s camp name was “Tinker”—as in Tinker Bell, from the Peter Pan story.
Today she is still called Tinker fondly by her “girls.” When she ran for Town Council it was suggested that she drop her camp name.
Tinker refused, as so many of her supporters had girls in her troop and knew her as Tinker. She won and served on our Council and is emeritus on the board of the Los Gatos Community Foundation.
