 TO THE MEMORY OF MY FRIEND "MENEGAHI" – "UNK" LOVE TO BOY SCOUTS  Photo of A. M. (CHIEF) VENNE I write this brief and simple statement to keep alive the memory of the best friend I had in the state of Texas. I learned to know A. C. Love forty-five years ago when he was faculty chairman of the Athletic Board of Texas A.& M. College and I as athletic director of Haskell Institute. We scheduled football games between our respective schools which were played at College Station and Ft. Worth. We became fairly well acquainted then. A few years later when I made San Antonio, Texas my home he invited me to attend Camp Mitigwa, the Boy Scout camp of the Beaumont Council. That was the real beginning of a lasting friendship. During the twenties while he served a Commissioner of the Beaumont Scout Council, at his invitation, I attended Mitigwa several summers. We lost track of each other for a number of years when I returned to the Middle West and he was connected with the State Highway Dept. at Austin, Texas. Here he took a very active part in reorganizing the Tonkawa Lodge of the Order of the Arrow and as counselor and instructor in Indian lore and crafts at Camp Tom Wooten. Our next meeting was in 1948 when we met again and attended Camp Urland, Camp Tom Wooten and sent on to the Philmont Scout Ranch. From there we journeyed to Gallup, N.M. to attend the Inter-tribal dances. Early in life "Unk" Love became interested in the American Indian, Indian lore and crafts which he taught at Boy Scout camps was his hobby. He made a through study of the American Indian and became proficient in making costumes, everything from the headdress to moccasins. He made a study of the Indian dance and ceremonies and was highly successful in instructing boys. The Tonkawa Indian dance team of the Capitol Area Council, one of the best Indian dance teams in the Middle West, is the result of his interest in Indian lore. In the past several years he made annual visits to the Hopi reservation in Arizona, Pueblos in N. M. and tribes in Oklahoma. He attended the intertribal dances in Anadarko, Oklahoma on several occasions and participated in the dances along with some of his old Indian friends. He possessed several authentic Indian costumes and which he made for himself and he loved to wear them when in Boy Scout camps and visiting with Indian friend. "Unk" Love was a very versatile individual. He had many interests, his old college, Texas A. & M., his engineering work-building highways and railroad, the A. & M. Alumni and football team and many other things. But his main interest was the YOUTH OF AMERICA. He loved to work with boys and he was in his glory when attending a Boy scout camp or an Order of the Arrow function. His entire life was spent in the interest of boys. He was a builder of character and many boy s developed into strong, God-fearing men because of their personal association with and sound counseling of "Unk" Love. I, for one who in all our years of association learned to know him real well and can say from the bottom of my heart; Menegahi has been called to a well deserved "HAPPY-HUNTING-GROUNDS." Sept.
1958 NUNWE KODA SOANGETAHA  A. C. "Unk" Love |