Women’s History Month Feature – Frances Broaddus-Crutchfield
March is Women’s History Month, a celebration of the vital role women play in American History. We all feel the contributions women make to our Scouting program. As generous donors, trained leaders, volunteers, and mothers, they have helped to shape the Boy Scouts of America and further enrich the lives of the youth we serve. On behalf of the Heart of Virginia Council as a whole, we thank each incredible woman in our Scouting family for the impact they make every day.
This week, we are excited to celebrate the accomplishments and generosity of Frances Broaddus-Crutchfield.
Frances began her lifelong career in Scouting as a Brownie in 1949. She joined Heart of Virginia Council (then the Robert E. Lee Council) with Cub Scout Pack 823 as a Committee Member in 1985, and Chartered Organization Representative from 1988 to 1995. Simultaneously, she served as Committee Member of Troop 876 from 1987 to 1988, and again from 1898 to 1995. She also served as Committee Chairman from 1988 to 1989. She served in many Council roles, including Advancement Chairman, Unit Commissioner, Assistant District Commissioner, and on the Nominating Committee for the Huguenot Trail District. She was an active member of our Council Executive Board from 1995 to 2015, and has been a Council Member At Large since.
Frances completed her Wood Badge in 1990 and served as staff and auxiliary staff six times. A fan of high adventure, between 1989 and 2004, she served in many training and faculty roles at the Philmont Scout Ranch (even authoring some of their training materials). She attended and served as staff on National Jamborees and National Outdoor Program Seminars, and served on the National Eagle Scout Association Scholarship Selection Committee from 2001 to 2011.
A pioneer in equality in Scouting, Frances, a Boy Scout leader for nearly 30 years, was the first woman inducted into the OA and the first woman to travel to Philmont with the Council contingent in the 1980’s. A lifelong and tireless supporter of equal rights and representation, she attended and voted at the 2013 Boy Scouts of America Executive Committee meeting that allowed openly gay youth into the ranks of Scouting, overturning a ban that stood for more an 100 years. Two years later, the Boy Scouts of America announced it’s National Executive Board voted to lift the organization’s ban on openly gay and bisexual adult leaders and employees. “Gays are created by God just as you and I are. They deserve inclusion and equality as much as we do,” she states. “Our gay sisters and brothers deserve to be treated equally, or Scouting will become irrelevant.” There is no doubt her passion for equality is the touchstone by which Scouting will be regarded for generations, with new families and youth enjoying and benefitting from the program we all love so dearly.
As can be imagined, her service and participation have not gone unnoticed, and her contributions to Scouting have been celebrated with training awards, the District Award of Merit in 1992, Distinguished Commissioner Award and Silver Beaver in 1994, OA Founder’s Award in 2001, and the Silver Antelope in 2003. On September 14, 2019, Heart of Virginia Council proudly dedicated the Frances Broaddus-Crutchfield Pavilion located on the T. Brady Saunders Scout Reservation.
Outside of Scouting, Frances served our youth as a middle and high school forensics coach, on the Association of Virginia Academies Forensics Competition, Powhatan soccer coach, and International Thespian Society sponsor. Her volunteerism has been recognized by such organizations as the American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, Chesterfield Library Board, Virginia Home for Boys, Daughters of the American Revolution, and more.
In the then Robert E. Lee Council’s Silver Antelope Award application, it was noted, “Ms. Crutchfield has been unusually generous to the Boy Scouts of America with both her money and her time. She has also completed several Hornaday Awards’ worth of work in efforts to preserve clean water in the state of Virginia. It is rare to find a volunteer who performs well in so many arenas with both professionals and other volunteers. On all levels – national, regional, area, council, and unit – Crutchfield has worked tirelessly wherever and whenever needed.” The letter continues, “She and her husband provided the funds for building a climbing tower at Camp T. Brady Saunders and the Flag Plaza at our council’s new Cub & Webelos Adventure Camp. She is a James E. West Fellow and a member of the 1910 Society as well as a faithful supporter of Friends of Scouting and the World Fellowship Fund. She is a life member of the Philmont Staff Association and a contributor to the new staff dining hall at Philmont Scout Ranch. Locally, Crutchfield has become known for her efforts to preserve clean water in the Mattaponi and Pamunkey Indian Tribes to help save their rivers for the severely declining populations of migratory fish.”
An advocate for Native Americans, Frances published “Saving the Mattaponi” in 2001 to raise funds for the tribe. In August of 2018, she read her poem “Mantle” at the dedication to a monument inscribed with the names of Virginian Indian tribes and their waterways in tribute in Richmond’s Capitol Square.
Whether you know and appreciate her as an actress, author, activist, environmentalist, volunteer, or Scouter, Frances Broaddus-Crutchfield has left an indelible mark on our local history.
Sources:
The Beacon Newspaper “August 2018: Fifty Plus Richmond.” Issue, 3 Aug. 2018, https://www.thebeaconnewspapers.com/a-voice-for-virginias-native-americans/.
EverybodyWiki Bios & Wiki. “Frances Broaddus-Crutchfield.” EverybodyWiki Bios & Wiki, EverybodyWiki Bios & Wiki, 24 July 2020, https://en.everybodywiki.com/Frances_Broaddus-Crutchfield.
VaCommunicators. “Member Profile: Meet Frances Broaddus Crutchfield.” VPC, 21 Sept. 2019, https://vapc.org/member-profile-meet-frances-broaddus-crutchfield/.
Dias, Elizabeth. “Boy Scouts Vote to Allow Gay Youth.” Time, Time, 23 May 2013, https://swampland.time.com/2013/05/23/boy-scouts-vote-to-allow-gay-youth/.
Boy Scouts Executive Committee Votes to Lift Ban on Gay … https://philanthropynewsdigest.org/news/boy-scouts-executive-committee-votes-to-lift-ban-on-gay-leaders.