102-Year-Old Man Dies Day After Eagle Scout Honor
CARNEGIE, Pa. (KDKA) - America's oldest living Eagle Scout, 102-year-old Bernie Queneau, was honored at a special ceremony Saturday at the Devonshire, Mount Lebanon.
As one speaker put it, "As a younger man, his footprints have literally marked our country."
"He was 16 in 1928 when he was one of four Eagle Scouts selected in the entire country to go on a Lincoln Highway Safety Tour," says Cub Master Eric Stuart.
He paged through a diary the young Bernie Queneau kept as he traveled on Route 30, the nation's first cross country highway. Even then, he stood out from the rest. Eric met Bernie at the Devonshire, where he was a resident.
"We brought the Cub Scouts and the Boy Scouts over," he recalls, "and gave him the honorary Eagle Scout award from Troop 65, since he already was an Eagle Scout, and got to throw a big birthday bash for him in July."
The Cubmaster expressed admiration for his new, old friend.
"Bernie at 102 was like somebody that was 45-50 years old. He was incredibly intelligent, lots and lots of energy, always had a smile on his face, and always brought fun with him wherever he went."
The former Navy Commander later rose through the ranks as a metallurgist with U-S Steel. At saturday's ceremony, received the Distinguished National Eagle Scout Award. The very next day, Sunday afternoon, Bernie Queneau passed away.
"I think," Eric Stuart says, "in this last week or so, he was trying to hold out to be able to receive that."
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