In the summer of 1925 Ross Erin Butler lived in Twin Falls, Idaho. He was 9 years old and the ninth child out of eleven children. The Butler family was very poor and it was very hard to pay their rent and buy food. But, they loved each other and worked hard together to take care of their family.
That summer his father and 3 oldest brothers took the family car and drove to Montana looking for work. One brother found work picking cherries while another worked in the timber. His father and brothers also worked on farms gathering summer hay. They did many odd jobs…that fall they even helped build a sugar factory.
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| Ross age 9 in Twin Falls, Idaho - 1925 |
While his father and brothers were gone, Ross was the oldest boy left at home. He was a good worker and knew he needed to earn some money to help feed his family. Ross had a lot of experience finding jobs. When he was 4 he sold his first newspaper. By the time he was 6 he had daily newspaper customers. At the age of 9 he sold newspapers and magazines and picked mint from the ditch banks to sell to the soda fountain store. He earned about 25 cents every day. Twenty five cents may not seem like much today, but in those days a loaf of bread only cost 5 cents. The money he earned was badly needed for his family’s food, medicine and other things.
Even though a 9 year old boy would have liked to spend his money on candy or toys, Ross gave all the money he earned to his mother. He loved his mother very much and wanted to help her and make her happy. His mother was so thankful to Ross for giving her the money he earned.
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| Fathers and Sons Outing 1923 John III, Don, Glenn and Ross (age 7) |
Ross worked very hard, but that summer there was a fathers and sons camp-out he really wanted to attend. His father and older brothers were still gone so he didn’t have anyone to take him. He never thought he would have a chance to go to the campout until a kind man in the church asked Ross if he would like to go as his adopted son. Ross remembers that the man had a very nice car to ride in and they had a very fun time at the camp-out. They sang songs around the campfire and slept under the stars. This experience helped Ross to decide that when he grew up he would help other boys whose dads weren’t around. And he did just that by becoming involved in the Boy Scouts of America. When Ross was an adult he became a Scoutmaster and took lots of boys to Scout camp.
