By Stacie N. Galang
PEABODY — Hal Comeau spent four decades devoted to Troop 59, organizing camping trips, mentoring boys toward Eagle Scout and overseeing the collection of food drives.
The troop returned the favor, honoring the former scoutmaster and his wife, Joan, at an appreciation lunch on Saturday. They have also created a pin in Hal Comeau's honor for an Eagle Scout to offer his own mentor.
"I think it's wonderful," Comeau said. "The boys are great. Their actions were great. Individuals varied as one would expect. There was a lot of good work for the neighborhood, for the community. It was great to be with that kind of person."
Comeau, 86, twice served as the troop's top go-to guy for a total of 30 years and in the off years worked as an adult leader.
"There were so many nice things they were doing that they were dreaming up on their own," he said of his Scouts. "It wasn't that we had to tell them how to do things. They arrived at how to do it themselves."
When it was all over, Comeau said, he left with a nice feeling.
Current co-scoutmaster David Wall said Comeau mentored hundreds of boys and helped 47 become Eagle Scouts. Troop 59 expects two more boys to reach the distinguished honor with Comeau's help.
When Wall was a Boy Scout, Comeau was his scoutmaster and one of the most influential people in his life, after his own family.
"In terms of his principles, he really hasn't changed," said the scoutmaster, whose 17-year-old son, Timothy, is a Scout.
Fellow scoutmaster Skip Croteau recalled how the couple would count every can, box and food item collected during the troop's annual spring food drive. Croteau said scouts circulate fliers to every home in West Peabody on one weekend and collect the food left for them the next. Their haul, for Haven From Hunger, typically fills the hall of West Congregational Church.
"Joan would come out sorting everything," Croteau said. "(Hal's) there making counts of everything. It's something they both enjoyed."
Comeau continued to lead the troop long after his son finished, an uncommon dedication, Croteau said.
"It takes a certain mindset to be his age and do it this long without having sons and grandsons involved with it," the scoutmaster said. "That alone is something."
It was Hal and Joan Comeau who drew him and his boys, Tom, 16, and Jeff, 13, to the troop in the first place, Croteau said.
"It had that homey feeling to it," he said. "That's the way they made it seem."
Croteau said Joan Comeau became the troop's photographer and historian.
"Every trip that we went to, she would take pictures," he said. "She was the records keeper, the secretary, the treasurer. She was everything."
Joan Comeau said she enjoyed taking photos, and scouting events gave her the chance to feature people rather than nature, another of her favorite subjects. She especially liked to create photo montages from throughout the years for the older boys.
"When I look back at it, it's almost like a parent looking at photos comparing what we looked like 10 or 15 years ago," she said.
Joan Comeau was honored and proud that the troop is recognizing her husband.
Hal Comeau, a retired finance manager for General Electric, said last week that he was looking forward to Saturday's luncheon.
"We hope we see old friends and make new friends because there are lot of people out there that are looking for friends," he said.
