Kathryn Callahan, Chuck Kelley, Mike Maruska, and Kurt Wentzell Honored

Virginia Beach, Va. – Four local Scout leaders have been recognized as “Living Legends of Tidewater Council.” Kathryn Callahan, Chuck Kelley, Mike Maruska, and Kurt Wentzell were honored by Scouting America Tidewater Council at its Recognition Banquet on April 29, 2026, at the Khedive Shrine Center in Chesapeake.

The Living Legends of Tidewater Council award recognizes well-known living volunteers who have generously given untold amounts of their time, resources, and talents to the Scouting program. Tidewater Council’s service area encompasses the Virginia cities of Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth, and Virginia Beach, as well as seven northeastern North Carolina counties.

Kathryn Callahan began her Scouting career as a Brownie and earned the Gold Award (the Girl Scout equivalent of Eagle Scout). She and her husband, Tom (an Eagle Scout with Palms), believe in the fundamentals Scouting teaches, so they have become deeply involved in the program. They have three adult children, Lauren, a Gold Awardee, and Davis and Mitchell, both Eagle Scouts with Palms.

Kathryn is a dedicated Scouting leader with over 22 years of service in the Tidewater Council. She currently serves as Scoutmaster for the blended Troops 417B and 19G in the Princess Anne District. Over the years, she has held several leadership roles, including Tiger mom, den leader, pack committee chair, troop committee member, advancement chair, merit badge counselor, and assistant Scoutmaster. She received the Princess Anne District Award of Merit in 2024.

Kathryn has played a key role in mentoring leaders, organizing major activities (backpacking and camping trips, district Camporees, and special events), and ensuring Scouts progress efficiently through the ranks. She is proud of all her Scouts, especially the 32 whom she has mentored through Eagle.

She has enjoyed extensive direct involvement with her Scouts, including camping, hiking, backpacking, windsurfing, canoeing, spelunking, and whitewater rafting. She has been at summer camp for 16 years and is looking forward to going again this year.

With her husband and Scouts, she earned the 50-Miler Award canoeing on the Allagash Wilderness Waterway in Maine.

Known for her strong organizational skills, she helped establish one of Tidewater Council’s first female troops. As a member of the council’s high adventure committee, she contributes to high adventure programming and supports council-wide adventures. She trains leaders in outdoor skills for canoeing and backpacking trips with their troops and supports troops on adventures. She has also taught at the annual University of Scouting.

Her record includes advanced training and recognized service, including the National Camping School, the Wood Badge course, the James E. West Fellow distinction, the Cross and Flame, a Scouting Religious Award, and membership in the Good Turn Society. She was elected to the Order of the Arrow in 2023 and is a Brotherhood member.

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Chuck Kelley was a Cub Scout in 1969 while living in Towson, Maryland. After earning his Webelos Scout badge, Chuck’s family relocated to Richmond, Virginia. Due to a lack of Scout units in his community, he sadly did not continue his Scouting journey in his youth.

That changed in 2001 when his future Eagle Scout son joined Pack 6 in Chesapeake. At Chuck’s first meeting, committee chair Doug Montgomery asked him to become pack treasurer.

Chuck then became Pack 6 committee chair (twice) and served as Cubmaster (his favorite position). He served Pack 6 for 25 years, watching both of his sons earn the Arrow of Light. He is still a member of the pack committee.

In 2005, Chuck and his son Grayson joined Troop 6 under the supervision of Scoutmaster Willie Adams. Chuck asked to become an assistant Scoutmaster (ASM), a role he held for 16 years before becoming committee chair. During his time as an ASM, Chuck frequently heard the “Willie-ism” of “What else can you do?”

After a brief stint as the Elizabeth River District training chair, Chuck joined the Three Rivers District committee as its membership chair, where he embraced the “Be a Scout” program and helped the district outpace the council in new member growth.

The “what else” mindset led to service as a unit commissioner, faculty member at the University of Scouting, rangemaster for day camps and recruiting events, merit badge counselor, den chief course instructor, Wood Badge troop guide, Introduction to Outdoor Leadership Skills (IOLS) instructor, and now in a second stint as Troop 6 ASM as advisor to the First Year Patrol.

Chuck is a Brotherhood member of the Order of the Arrow and currently serves as Three Rivers District commissioner.

He is a past president of the Great Bridge Swim and Racquet Club and a former USA Swimming Association stroke-and-turn judge. He is a baseball umpire in the Eastern Officials Association. He volunteers with the Chesapeake Area Shelter Team to help people experiencing homelessness and is a team member for Serve the City. He serves in the Deacon Ministry and is a Middle School Life Group Leader at Great Bridge Baptist Church, which honored him with the Good Shepherd Award in 2020.

Chuck’s chief reward in Scouting has been the growing relationships with his former Scouts. He says that graduations, wedding invitations, birth announcements, or just a phone call with a “How ya doing, Mr. Kelley?” are better recognition than any leadership knot he has earned.

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Mike Maruska earned the rank of Eagle Scout while in Troop 120, sponsored by Mater Christi Church in LaGrange, Illinois. As a youth, Mike served as Lodge Chief of Order of the Arrow (OA) Leekwinai Lodge.

Over the past 25+ years, Mike has served in a variety of adult volunteer leadership roles within Tidewater Council. He was a den leader for five years with Pack 660, and then served as assistant Scoutmaster, Scoutmaster, and committee chair for Scouts BSA Troop 660 in Virginia Beach.

Mike has also guided youth in OA Blue Heron Lodge as an associate chapter advisor and chapter advisor for Princess Anne. He now serves as one of the three advisors to the Blue Heron Lodge Council of Chiefs.

He also currently serves as the council maintenance chair. Over the past four years, Mike has worked at summer camp at Pipsico Scout Reservation, ensuring everything is ready for campers. He also aids the staff as needed.

Mike has received the Princess Anne District Award of Merit, the Order of the Arrow Vigil Honor, and Blue Heron Lodge’s Silver Heron Award.

In addition to supporting youth in Tidewater Council with his time, Mike’s generosity has earned him the title of James E. West Fellow and membership at the Trailhead level of Scouting’s Good Turn Society.

He retired from the U.S. Navy after 22 years and owns a home repair business. He is the proud father of an Eagle Scout.

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Kurt Wentzell has dedicated more than 40 years to mentoring and guiding youth, not just in Scouting but also in the Church of Christ and in youth sports.

Kurt grew up in a small town in the western mountains of Maine, where the nearest Scout pack or troop was 70 miles away. As a child, he found an old BSA Handbook dated 1958, and with both parents working, he spent much of his time in the woods, teaching himself the skills and ideals of Scouting. At 15, he was a certified Emergency Medical Technician, and at 17, he enlisted in the Navy as a Hospital Corpsman, earning his Paramedic certification.

His first real interactions with Scouts began when he served as the Camp Health Officer at a summer camp in Ashford, CT, in 1985. While stationed in Philadelphia in 1993, a coworker asked Kurt to bring the ambulance to the base gym for a Cub Scout show-and-tell for the Philadelphia Council. Before the event, he was invited to a Roundtable because the leaders had questions for him.

Soon, he became a den leader for Pack 128, which met on the base. As the Philadelphia Naval Hospital and the Shipyard were downsizing in preparation for closure, he became the Cubmaster and then Scoutmaster for Troop 128. Eventually, unit leaders left for other assignments, and the bases closed.

Years later, in 2006, when his son Ethan joined Pack 998, Kurt once again donned his uniform and became the Wolf den leader. Shortly after, Pack 998 disbanded, and his son joined Pack 362 at Community United Methodist Church. Kurt was a den leader until his son joined Troop 362.

Kurt served as a committee member, assistant Scoutmaster, merit badge counselor, and then committee chair. In 2019, he became Troop 362’s Scoutmaster. Since joining the troop, he has helped 35 Scouts achieve the rank of Eagle Scout, as evidenced by the mentor pins on his uniform. He earned an adult Religious Emblem in 2008 and completed his Brotherhood in the Order of the Arrow in 2022.

Kurt takes immense pride in his troop, which is always willing to volunteer for council or district Scouting events or community events, often leading the charge. One of Kurt’s favorite quotes is from Mahatma Gandhi: “A sign of a good leader is not how many followers you have, but how many leaders you create.”

Scouts he has mentored have gone on to attend the Naval Academy, serve in the military, or pursue college degrees or trade certifications.

Kurt works for CACI Federal, Inc. as a Senior Instructor on the Theater Medical Information Program-Maritime. He is the vice president and assistant coach for the Centerville Wrestling Club, a lifetime member of the VFW General MacArthur Memorial Post No. 392, and a member of the Marine Corps League John A. Lejeune Detachment No. 332.

Kurt has been a professional Santa since 2009 and donates all proceeds to Troop 362 to help augment the budget and provide more opportunities for Scouts to attend National Youth Leadership Training (NYLT) or summer camp. Often, Kurt wears his cowboy hat and boots while engaging in Scouting activities, helping mentor youth to become good Scouts and citizens in their communities.

He practices servant leadership and always shows up for his Scouts, no matter where they are or what they need. He teaches them to live by the Scout Oath & Law, “Your word is your honor. It’s the only thing you have left when you pass, so live up to your word and do what you say you’re going to do.”

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About the Living Legend of Tidewater Council Award

The Living Legends Award was established by the Tidewater Council executive board in 1998 to recognize local volunteers for their enduring contributions to Scouting. Living Legends recipients continue to provide significant leadership, service, and support to Scouting over many years and in many roles. Honorees have given untold amounts of their time, resources, and talents to the Scouting program within Tidewater Council’s North Carolina and Virginia service area. They exemplify the Scout Oath and Law in service to youth.

About Tidewater Council Scouting America

Established in 1911, Tidewater Council is the fifth oldest Scouting America council in the United States. Today, the council serves approximately 4,000 youth and 1,700 adult volunteers in the Virginia cities of Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth, and Virginia Beach, and the North Carolina counties of Camden, Chowan, Currituck, Dare, Gates, Pasquotank, and Perquimans. To learn more about Tidewater Council or to sign your child up for Scouting, visit TidewaterBSA.com, email james.parnell@scouting.org, or call 757-497-2688.

About Scouting America

Scouting America provides the nation’s foremost youth program of character development and values-based leadership training, which helps young people be “Prepared. For Life.^®”

Scouting America welcomes all of America’s youth into its programs. Scouting aims to give them fantastic experiences in the outdoors, and elsewhere, where they can grow in a safe environment. More than 130 million Americans have participated in Scouting’s programs since its founding. Today, almost one million youth are served by 500,000 adult volunteers in local councils throughout the country.

To learn more about Scouting America’s mission, or to sign your child up for Scouting, visit BeAScout.org.

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