A History of
Old Kia Kima
Preservation Association

As remembered by David Fleming
OKKPA co-founder
April 2022

Preface

The co-creation of Old Kia Kima Preservation Association was a 3-year event (1993-1996) including conception, gestation and ultimate birthing in 1996. The intent of this story is to disclose OKKPA’s history – its birth, infancy of crawling, walking, running and climbing. You will read about events, circumstances, starts and stops, and successes along the way. It will include the experience of exploring, abandoning and ultimately adopting an array of activities and decisions that created the foundation for OKKPA today. More importantly, you will learn about sources and rationale prompting OKKPA’s vision and mission.

1993

In the beginning, there were five of us sensing and discussing the urge to reunite on the sacred grounds of Kia Kima where our trek into adulthood began. We were in our 50s, each living in different states: Frank Simonton (Bartlett, TN); Gordon “Scotty” Monteath (CA and VA); John Ozier (Baton Rouge, LA); Perry Gaither (Macon, MS) and David Fleming (me, Davis, CA). Thirty-five years had passed since we had last been together at the same time and place.

With the exception of Gaither, we met in Memphis on a warm July 1993 morning in the lobby of the East Memphis Hilton. Simonton’s duties as a faculty member at Memphis State University prevented him from continuing with us on our Arkansas journey to Hardy and Cherokee Village. There we would meet with Gaither (his wife, Judy, and 16-year young daughter, Emily) in Cherokee Village where Gaither had arranged rentals for our stay.

Of these 5, only Gaither had not ventured into California, where over the past 35 years Monteath, Ozier and Simonton had made stops at the Fleming abode in northern California. It would not take long to reunite in the same hilarious fashion as we had last experienced at old camp Kia Kima. For the next 3 days we would explore, ponder and wander the much changed environs we had not experienced since those summers from 1949 to1958. Included was a canoe trip on the Spring River to test our whitewater canoeing skills.

We arrived in Cherokee Village on July 11, 1993, where we met with Gaither, his wife and daughter. It took no time to happily reunite and to begin sharing our life journeys since our scattered gatherings over the years. While both lived in California, Monteath and Fleming had several mini-gatherings to explore the whitewater rivers of California, Oregon and Idaho, on one occasion nearly destroying Fleming’s new whitewater canoe. Monteath would later move to Virginia.

In 1962, Ozier and Fleming met in California where Fleming was serving in the US Air Force and Ozier was passing through enroute from the Aleutian Islands in Alaska to Oakland with his ultimate departure to Japan on his final US Army tour of duty. In 1967, they would meet again with their respective spouses in Memphis for a short visit, never to visit in person again until 1993. Simonton would also meet with Fleming in 1975 while he was leading students from the University of Memphis on a tour of recreational areas in California (Lake Oroville, Yosemite, San Francisco, etc.). They would not meet again for another 18 years – July 1993 in Memphis.

Gaither, Ozier and Simonton had several mini reunions over the years in Memphis and Macon, Mississippi where Gaither resided and served as a professor of English at a nearby college. Not so amazing were the links we continued having by way of celebrating birthdays with seasonal greeting cards, phone calls, and occasional letters. Each of us had married and welcomed our children into our lives as we developed our careers.

Activities during our 1993 reunion included dining at old and new establishments in Hardy and Cherokee Village (Sitting Bull). We roamed the countryside to stir memories of our hikes to afternoon swimming holes (Upper Falls, now known as Star Falls, Humphrey's Ford, Otter Creek, and Raccoon Spring). A highlight was a full day canoe trek on the Spring River from Mammoth Springs to Humphrey's Ford with a lunch stop at Many Islands. Following the lead of Captain “Scotty” Monteath (retired Captain US Navy), we had only one mishap, a canoe log jammed with Gaither (stern) and his daughter Emily (bow). Rescue by Ozier and Fleming went smoothly.

Perry Gaither later recorded his 1993 memory on an audio tape.

A visit to the old campgrounds (the quad) was a joyful yet tearful occasion we would never forget. The experience was described by Fleming in an article published in the Old Kia Kima Newsletter and later in the Memphis Commercial Appeal with the intent of awakening those who shared the experiences and values instilled in us while on those sacred grounds high above the South Fork waters:

Unaware that OKKPA conception had taken place, we departed our 1993 reunion trusting that we would annually gather on those sacred grounds. We had then started on journeys we would never regret. We vowed to return at another time, a time when we would begin the time for gestation. In 1994, 1995 and 1996 we did just that – together with an ever increasing number of brothers and sisters of the South Fork waters.

1994

Having re-awakened dormant feelings and the Spirit of Kia Kima, four brothers of the old camp would experience the second gathering in September 1994. Joining Gordon “Scotty” Monteath and David Fleming for this second gathering were Buddy Keltner and John Hurt. The four of us were happily surprised to have a brief visit in Cherokee Village with Ralph Young and his wife, Martha Jane, who were visiting Joe Clark. Joe was the retired resident ranger of the new Kia Kima (now known as the Kia Kima Scout Reservation). Ralph (nicknamed Padre) had served as a long-time camp director of both the old and the new camps.

Our 1994 adventures included a canoe trip and a trek to the old Kia Kima campground where we witnessed nature continuing to reclaim what had once been Native-American Osage terrain. The Old Kia Kima Spirit was beginning to grow and kick. We would again pledge to return to the old camp in 1995 as the gestation was underway. We were inspired by the feeling that something good was in the making and we were sensing what would ultimately become the birth of OKKPA. When and how would eventually emerge in 1995 and 1996.

1995

As avowed in 1994, we gathered again in September 1995. We are eternally grateful for John Hurt’s initiative and creativity with the first issue of the Kamp Kia Kima Sentinel (Summer 1995). Attending the reunion for the first time was Roy Riddick, our esteemed leader and Kia Kima Program Director of 1954-57. Roy was wholeheartedly welcomed back to remind us of his 1954 BSA National Camping School slogan to “Save the World for the Boy.” Attendance increased from the original 4 to 6 with the return of Perry Gaither.

The 1995 canoeing venture planned by John Hurt was intended to begin on the South Fork River at Saddle, Arkansas and end at Slick Rock. Waiting what seemed hours for the canoe rental manager to meet us at his Saddle store, Hurt finally recalled the reservation date had been changed. We would later learn the rental manager was busy bush hogging elsewhere. We reconnoitered and moved on to the Spring River for a joyous day of white-water canoeing.

Our 1995 gathering was not complete without another on-site tour of our beloved old camp. There, we sadly found the area being used as a dumping site for washing machines, tires, refrigerators and more.

As we stood there in silence, Monteath turned and said, “We must do something about this.” Then and there, the seed was silently planted with his statement. The 2nd of the triennial was ending and the 3rd was beginning as we departed to contemplate what that “something” would be.

January 1996 - OKKPA Birth

On a business trip from sunny California to a frigid and snow-covered Washington, DC in early January, Fleming was welcomed by Monteath. For the next three days they would meet for dinner and chat about life as they knew it in their Scouting days and Memphis environs. While chatting over dinner about their Kia Kima past and the 1993-95 gatherings in Cherokee Village, Monteath had an inspiring declaration: “We need to create a non-profit organization” to acquire the beloved old camp Kia Kima campgrounds. There was no doubt in their minds that this could be done. [The rationale with a formal vision and mission statements would emerge in written form during OKKPA’s infancy (1997-98).]

After dinner they trudged through mounds of snow created by road-clearing plows to Monteath’s office to explore how they could go about creating a non-profit entity. Their first consideration was naming the ad hoc officers: President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer. They required only seconds to think of Roy Riddick as an ideal president. Riddick was then serving as the Chief Medical Examiner for the southern Alabama region.

It was about 10PM when, from Monteath’s office, they phoned Riddick to ask him to serve as the non-profit president. Accustomed to all-hours medical examiner’s calls, Riddick sleepily answered his phone to hear a plea to serve as president of what would ultimately become OKKPA, Inc. He agreed without hesitating. Monteath and Fleming agreed to serve as vice president and secretary respectively. In short order Fleming recruited John Hurt to serve as treasurer. The then “nameless” Old Kia Kima Preservation Association was conceived as a non-profit entity.

April 1996 - Progress

All was quiet until April 1996 when Riddick embarked upon a spring vacation to show his wife Carol the environs of his youth: Memphis, Hardy, Kia Kima, Cherokee Village. Their trip included a brief visit with George Billingsley in Bentonville, AR. While returning to Alabama, Roy made two significant stops. The first stop was to meet with Sam Bell, a local attorney in nearby Highland, AR between Ash Flat and Cherokee Village. It was there Roy funded and arranged to create a legally recognized nonprofit 501(c) (3). Then and there, he precisely named the non-profit the Old Kia Kima Preservation Association, Inc. (OKKPA). The name reflected what the co-founders envisioned. Roy had initially given thought to merely acquiring the land and allowing nature to reclaim it. That option was considered and quickly eliminated given the enthusiasm to restore and preserve the old camp for the youth of today and the future.

Roy’s second stop was to meet with real estate agent Harold Hersch, a local legend. While the Articles of Incorporation were underway, Riddick made a $1,000 deposit and signed a “Real Estate Contract” wherein OKKPA - subject to contingencies -offered to purchase about 20 acres of the old Camp Kia Kima site. The land was then owned by Eben Daggett, a relative of the late John Cooper, Sr. (developer of Cherokee Village). The proposed purchase was subject to the co-founders funding and providing a survey for a legal description of the subject property.

After informal discussions among the co-founders, Scotty Monteath proposed and pursued a lease-purchase agreement of the property encompassing the “quad”: bounded on the south by the South Fork River, on the east by Spirit Creek, on the north by Kolo Drive and on the west by Cabins 12-16. The rationale for a lease-purchase agreement at minimum would allow entering and clearing up the disasters they had found during earlier reunions. This would also give time to recruit donors and members for the out-right purchase estimated as 5 acres.

Learning of Riddick’s incorporating efforts, John Hurt and David Fleming in late April would stake the subject area with survey tape outlining the boundaries for the survey (see FLEMING & HURT SCOUTING PARTY in the July 1996 News Letter). There would be a long delay before receiving the completed legal property description from the surveyors.

While on that preliminary surveying trip, Fleming and Hurt became aware of two former campers/staffers of 1948-51 living in the area: Bob “Sluggo” Williams and Bobby Harriss. Bob and Norma Williams owned and operated a 1950s-style soda fountain on Main Street in Hardy. Not finding him in the soda shop, it was suggested he could be found at his wife’s (Norma) antique shop. Walking toward the antique shop a gentleman fitting the Sluggo cartoon image walked by. After passing him, Fleming turned to Hurt and said, “I’ll bet that’s him!” … and it was him! On Norma’s advice, they returned to the soda shop to find him and introduced themselves and their mission. It was another step toward fulfilling the mission of OKKPA, with Bob Williams having a major role in restoring the camp.

September 1996 - Reunion

As energy shifted from purchasing 20 acres to securing a lease-purchase agreement of 5 acres, interest in OKKPA’s early endeavors was stirring in northwest Arkansas. This was evidenced by George Billingsley learning of the incorporation, the land survey and briefly attending the 1996 reunion.

Through the efforts of John Hurt creating the “News Letter” in 1995, word of incorporation spread among former campers and staffers. The 1996 reunion welcomed first-time attendees: Phil Adams, George Billingsley, Jimmy Boggs, Jerry Gresham, Bobby Harriss, Umpy Osborn *, Cohen Oswalt, Frank Simonton, Ron Tate, Bobby Williams plus Charles and Darlene Wilson **.

* A chance finding by the 1996 attendees was Umpy Osborn. After dinner at the King Catfish restaurant, the group decided to have a view of OKK from Cedar Bluff, the site of many evening vesper services. As they approached a sunset view of OKK and White Horse Mountain they discovered sitting alone, none other than Umpy Osborn. That discovery story appears in the November 1996 News Letter entitled “We know you are out there!.....Just like Umpy” by John Hurt, Editor. Umpy would later become instrumental in leading many members of Ole Troop 97 into OKKPA membership.

** Charles Wilson was not an OKK alumnus. He was and is a Hardy resident whose father once owned the only service station in Hardy. After retirement from the USAF Charles became President of the First National Bank of Sharp County. With his guidance, OKKPA’s banking was established. Charles would later serve as the OKKPA Treasurer during the early restoration of the stone cabins and Thunderbird Lodge (1998-2000). Charles’ wife, Darlene (CPA), served as the OKKPA accountant and tax representative. OKKPA is forever grateful for Darlene’s and Charles’ wise counsel. With newly incorporated OKKPA, Darlene advised creating bylaws. That task fell to Fleming who wrote the bylaws, which were then accepted by the State of Arkansas to complete the incorporation process.

end Part 3…

With incorporation approved by the State of Arkansas, Old Kia Kima Preservation Association became a legal entity with an official birthday of July 6, 1996.

Part Four to follow: OKKPA first birthday 1997