Life Scout Quinn Smith recently completed an Eagle Scout project that helped showcase a remembrance and reflection that the Memorial Day holiday honors.
As part of Troop 806 in Ellwood City, the 17-year-old Lincoln High School Junior set out to check every grave – over 8,600 of them in two Lawrence County cemeteries, Pleasant Hill & Locust Grove, – against the roster of over 1,500 deceased Lawrence & Beaver County Veterans buried there.
Smith checked to make sure that each Veteran had a flag holder/Veteran marker on their grave. His goal was to have the project done before flags were placed on the graves on Memorial Day.
Smith spent hundreds of hours this past year – along with family & friends – checking each grave and completed the task at hand. Pleasant Hill only took a few hours according to Smith, but due to the size of Locust Grove it took months to complete.
Smith then worked with Joseph Fisher and the American Legion Post 157 to obtain markers.
The Eagle Scout project which was sponsored by Fisher, the Commander of the American Legion Post 157 in Ellwood City.
“We are grateful for their support,” says his mother Joanne Sabol Smith.
Smith got some new markers, but also fixed older ones.
Some of the markers are unique to each war – the Civil War, the Spanish American War, WWI, WWII, Korea & Vietnam – as well as the standard Veteran marker.
The project successfully identified over 240 Veterans that needed a flag holder. Smith also located over 160 Veterans who have a marker but are not listed on the county’s roster. He will next provide all this information to Fisher and the American Legion in order to get the veteran’s death date and military record captured on the county’s registry.
The Eagle Scout also led the Children’s sermon at First United Methodist Church on Sunday explaining his project & the meaning of Memorial Day.
Smith has completed all the required Boy Scout Merit badges and now his Eagle Scout project. His next step is to submit his Eagle Scout paperwork to Moraine Trails Council and attend a Board of Review to officially obtain the rank of Eagle Scout.
“We are honored to do this service project with Quinn and are so very proud of him,” adds his mother.
Quinn is the son of Doug & Joanne Smith and one of six children. His three older brothers, Kyle, Levi & Grady Smith, have all obtained the rank of Eagle Scout. The Eagle Scout is the highest rank attainable in the Scouts of America. Since 1911, only 4% of Scouts have earned this rank.
Quinn is a 5 time Carson Scholar, received the President’s Gold award for Academic Excellence and on the LHS High Honor roll every year. He’s also a member of the LHS National Honor Society and Vice President of the LHS History Club. Quinn plays the tuba in the LHS Marching Blue Band where he is the Blue Band Vice President, the tuba section leader and awarded the Lawrence County All-Star band for 5 years. Quinn is also active in athletics as an ambassador to the LHS Bocce team, varsity soccer and varsity tennis for LHS. He volunteers for the Ellwood City Carpenter’s project, From Books to Blessings and is a youth group member of First United Methodist Church in Ellwood City where he led the children’s sermon this past Sunday explaining his Eagle Scout project, the veteran markers at the cemeteries as well as the importance of Memorial Day.
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