Saturday evening, June 26, 1954, the Shreveport Pathfinder Club with thirty-two members, met for the first time. The first director was Opal Miller, and H. L. “Buck” Gifford was the deputy director. Buck went on to serve as director for twenty-five years. Less than one year after that first meeting, on April 12, 1955, the Pathfinder club moved from the church basement to a new clubhouse. According to the North American Division, this was the first building in North America built expressly as a Pathfinder clubhouse. The first Pathfinder camporee held in the Arkansas-Louisiana conference took place in the yard of the Shreveport clubhouse in 1956. This clubhouse is still used by Pathfinders today (Salzman, 2004).
SHREVEPORT PATHFINDERS 40 YEAR REUNION
(left), honors Buck Gifford, Jr.
April 12, 1995, marked the 40th anniversary of the first meeting held in the Shreveport Pathfinder clubhouse. To commemorate this special event, the Shreveport First church sponsored a reunion on April 8, 1995, of all the former Shreveport Pathfinders. The featured speaker was one of the original 1954 Shreveport Pathfinders, Steve Gifford, Texas Conference president at that time. During the Sabbath service representatives from five decades of Pathfinder clubhouse users presented a plaque to Buck Gifford, Jr., to express their appreciation for his gift of a clubhouse to the church. Buck and his father, H. L. Gifford, Sr., built the clubhouse and donated it to the Pathfinder Club in 1955 (Salzman, 1995).
Citation
(1956, Mar. 14). Southwestern Union Record, p. 4.
Salzman, Michael G. (1995, Jun. 1). Ibid., p. 16.
Ibid. (2004, Oct. 1). p. 12.
How it all Began 