Two long-time Trenton Boy Scout volunteers were among six persons honored by the Pony Express Council as recipients of the Silver Beaver Award during the council’s annual recognition dinner on Saturday night in St. Joseph.
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The award is the highest form of recognition that a council can bestow upon an volunteer. It is made for noteworthy service of exceptional character to boyhood by registered scouters within the jurisdiction of the Pony Express Council.
Receiving the award from Trenton were Chris Hoffman and Dr. Paul Cox. Others recognized were Bruce Baker, Michael Eisenhauer, Rodney Coverdell and Paul Weatherford.
Hoffman has been involved with youth improvement for the past 25 years through education, church and scouting. He has been a Cub Scout, Boy Scout and received his Eagle rank in 1973. He is the son, the father, the father-in-law, the nephew and the cousin of an Eagle Scout. He is a member of the Tribe of Mic-O-Say, advancing to the rank of firebuilder. He has served as a Webelos leader, a cubmaster, a troop committee member, district advancement chairman, is active in the district Friends of Scouting campaign and received the District Award of Merit in 2007.
He serves as an elder and Sunday school teacher, a past president of the Trenton Rotary Club, an active participate in the industrial development of his community and surrounding area, a past president of the North Central Missouri College Board of Trustees (having served on that board since 1992), a member of the NCMC Foundation and has been recognized as a college distinguished alumnus. He served on the college’s steering committee for the 1994 gift campaign and has helped raise over $450,000 for NCMC scholarships through serving as co-chairman of the Destination 21st Century Endowed Scholarship drive.
A graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia College of Agriculture, he is also a past president of the University Extension.
Dr. Cox became a Cub Scout in 1966 and a Boy Scout in 1970, being inducted into the Tribe of Mic-O-Say in 1972 and attaining the rank of runner. He became an Eagle Scout in 1973 and is also the father of an Eagle Scout.
After graduating from William Jewell College and the University of Missouri-Kansas City Dental School, he returned to Trenton and entered private practice with his father. He became re-involved in scouting with his son in 1992, serving as a Webelos leader, a cubmaster, an adult troop leader, a committee member, a committee chairman, a district merit badge instructor and has been an active participate in Friends of Scouting for 15 years. He works with the Eagle Scout process, serving on many boards of review and presentations. He serves as an adult runner in the Tribe of Mic-O-Say and has been awarded the white coup of service in that organization. He received the District Award of Merit in 2008.
Outside of scouting, Dr. Cox is a deacon in his church and a leader of the Royal Rangers program. He has served on the Trenton R-9 Board of Education and is an active member of the Trenton Area Chamber of Commerce as well as other organizations.
Gary Black of Trenton made the presentations with Kevin Bailey and Dean Sager serving as escorts. All are former Silver Beaver Award recipients. Nearly 40 family members and friends from Trenton and the Ma-Has-Kah District joined scouters from throughout the council for the event.