DATE: Friday, July 4, 1997                  TAG: 9707020199

SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON   PAGE: 04   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY BARBARA J. WOERNER, CORRESPONDENT 

                                            LENGTH:   64 lines

SCOUTS HONOR FORMER LEADER AT CAMP CEREMONY

For five days a section of Princess Anne Park became a space camp for 157 energetic Cub Scouts who participated in the ``Up In Outer Space'' day camp.

The camp is one of seven put on for Cub Scouts by the Tidewater Council of the Boy Scouts of America. While the days were packed with space-oriented games, arts and crafts and other activities, camp staff members carried on in the absence of former camp director May Crace.

Crace succumbed to cancer earlier this year. Friends and family came to the camp's closing ceremony dedicated to her for years of service as day camp director and in other area Scouting activities.

David Davies, director of the Tidewater Council of the Boy Scouts of America, said that the mention of May Crace was synonymous with area Cub Scouting activities.

``She could gather 3,000 Cub Scouts and have them ready to march in the Veteran's Day parades,'' he said. ``She was a Cub Scout leader in Virginia Beach for over 15 years and camp director for this day camp for at least that long.''

``When you talked about Cub Scouting you talked about May Crace,'' said Davies.

Last summer, she carried on as the camp director while concealing the fact that she had been diagnosed with cancer. After the camp session was over, she broke the news.

David Deforest, 18, director of the junior staff at the space camp, said that he could not remember participating in Scout activities of any kind without seeing Crace lending a hand.

``I still have Indian-style leather work that I did when I was 9 or 10 as a Cub Scout at one of her day camps,'' he said. ``Everything she did was for us.''

Deforest recalled that past day camps at Princess Anne Park would swell to more than 300 simply because Crace, as the camp director, made them so much fun.

``She would find a way to get whatever we needed,'' he added. ``It really seems odd to see someone else in her place this year.''

Norman Stoddard took on the job this summer. ``May always had the equipment or the answer, and for over 15 years she was active in church groups, civic leagues, school activities and of course Scouting,'' he said. ``She'd been doing something in Scouting for as long as anybody in the Tidewater Council of the Boy Scouts of America can remember.''

At the closing ceremony, Stoddard presented Paul Crace, May Crace's husband, with both the ceremonial American flag and the camp accreditation flag from the Tidewater Council of the Boy Scouts of America. The honor guard, T.J. Stoddard from Troop 902 and Jonathan Stoddard, J.T. Molesky and Michael Mitchell from Pack 486, lowered the flag after ``Taps'' was played by Gary Anderson from the Atlantic Fleet Band.

Camp participants, parents and staff stood silently as Paul Crace choked back tears and accepted the flag.

``My mother felt that if you could keep kids involved with Scouting, sports and church activities then they would stay out of trouble,'' said Malerie Malone, Crace's daughter. ``It makes me feel good that she is remembered for her involvement with kids.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by BARBARA WOERNER

Paul Crace, left, accepts a flag from Norman Stoddard, director of

``Up In Outer Space'' Cub Scout Camp. The ceremony was in memory of

former director May Crace.

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