Former Ukiah scoutmaster died
I got an email letting me know that former Ukiah resident Richard Vernon Hacke
had died Oct. 19 in Grass Valley. He was 86 years old. He moved away from Ukiah back in 1974 but some local residents may remember him from Boy Scouting. Known affectionately as ‘Dick’ to three generations, Hacke was an leading member of the teams that purchased and built the summer camps of Marin, Sonoma and Mendocino counties, where he served for the majority of his long career as a professional Scouter. He was a recipient of the Distinguished Eagle Scout, an award given to fewer than one in 10,000 Eagle Scout holders in recognition of more than 25 years of outstanding service to the community and nation. In that he stood among a select group including former Astronaut Neil Armstrong, former FBI director William Sessions, and film director Steven Spielberg.
Hacke was born in 1921 in San Francisco and from his early boyhood days he was drawn to Scouting, having started as a cub scout in San Francisco in 1929 at the age of seven, After WWII Hacke returned to California, and helped found and build Camp Tamarancho in Fairfax, Marin Sierra in the Tahoe National Forest region of the northern Sierra, and Camps Noyo and Navarro in the redwood groves of Mendocino. He moved to Ukiah and to the Sonoma Mendocino Council (now the
Redwood Empire Council), where he built and directed Camp Navarro. In 1974
he returned to Marin Council and resumed his position as Camp Director of
Marin Sierra, a position he filled for all but two years until 1990.
In line with Hacke’s requests, no memorial services are to be held. His
family requests that all contributions made to Scouting in his name be sent
to The Dick Hacke Foundation, an endowment whose sole purpose is to support
the maintenance and development of the Boy Scout summer camps in Marin and
Sonoma-Mendocino scout councils. For further information, please see
www.dickhacke.org