CHARLEMONT — As a Cub Scout during World War II, Douglas Cranson of Ashfield collected newspapers, milkweed pods and tin foil for the war effort. Then he grew up to be a Boy Scout master, commissioner, instructor, mentor and an award-winning “Scout Masters’ Scout Master.”
Now 72 years into Scouting, Cranson was honored Friday morning as the recipient of this year’s Marvin J. Shippee Community Service Award.
“I was very fortunate in that I had a father who showed me what to do, to be part of a community,” said Cranson, now 80, who joined his father’s plumbing/heating business after serving in the U.S. Navy.
Cranson first became a Scout master in 1958, the same year he became an Ashfield firefighter, and held those positions for 20 years, according to Wesley Rice, a former Shippee Award winner.
Cranson’s many other community services have included maintaining the swimming dock at Ashfield Lake, where he also mowed and cut brush. He was a member of the former town ambulance service, and helped to establish the Mohawk Music Association at the high school. He served on many town boards and study committees, including a 20-year service on the Ashfield Fall Festival Committee from 1976 to 1996.
In 1985, he received the Ashfield Lions Club’s Citizen of the Year Award. He helped to replace at least 130 trees on Ashfield’s Main Street and, in 1990, he helped to form the Ashfield Trail Committee, which has built 18 miles of trails throughout the town. Cranson is still on several committees in Ashfield, including the Town Hall Building Committee, the Ashfield Historical Society and the Ashfield Community Hall Association.
Cranson was nominated by Rice, who is leaving his 12-year position with the Business Association this summer.
Rice was thanked for his service with tributes by past GSFABA director Art Schwenger and current director Carmella Lanza-Weil.
Also two $500 GSFABA scholarships were awarded to Mohawk Trail Regional School students Emma R. Guyette and Samuel R. Rode. The breakfast was held at Berkshire East.