Lifelong Friends: Celebrating with Mary Ellen Maxwell
Every Girl Scout knows the lyrics to the famous traditional song that goes, “Make new friends, but keep the old / One is silver and the other’s gold.” For Girl Scout alum and decorated volunteer Mary Ellen Maxwell, adding to her circle of friends has been an instrumental part of her success in life. This Girl Scout Week, we celebrate with a look at Mary Ellen’s experience and amazing career as an example of friendships in action.
Mary Ellen Maxwell began her decades-long Girl Scout journey as a Brownie in Glen Falls, New York, and loved camping as a girl. Later, after marrying and moving to Hampton Roads with children of her own, she reconnected with Girl Scouting — through a new friend. After meeting Mary Ann Moore at her children’s school, Mary Ellen was able to start her first troop for Girl Scout Brownies.
Then the military moved her again, just north of the Virginia/North Carolina border. Once again, making a new friend led to more adventures for her with Girl Scouts. “I met a lady named Betty Donaldson and she was just getting a troop started in Moyock and was going to let the kids from Chesapeake come over, and I just struck up a nice relationship [with her].”
Over time, Mary Ellen became more and more involved with the business of Girl Scouting, serving in several volunteer roles, such as national convention delegate, sitting on multiple committees, working through the merging of councils in the 80s, and eventually became GSCCC Council President.
Friends were with her every step of the way. “When I was the President of the Council, I had Sandra DeLoatch who was my right and left hand.”
Mary Ellen’s years of service were celebrated with the highest awards that a volunteer can earn, including the Volunteer Appreciation Pin, Thanks Badge (I and II), the Dorothy Barber Lifetime Achievement Award, and she was celebrated as a Girl Scout Famous Former.
Outside of Girl Scouting, Mary Ellen’s professional life also included working with friends and following her passion for helping children. She served on the school board in Currituck County for 24 years, and also started the Albemarle Hopeline in Elizabeth City for victims of abuse. “Pat Youngblood was the director over there and we just became very good friends. We were able to merge a lot of Girl Scouts stuff into that.”
Mary Ellen later served as President of the National School Board from 1999-2000, but even as her world got busy never strayed far from her first love. “Girl Scouts has just always been at the very top of my list of things to do, to give to, and want to be a part of.”
Though she has retired from working, Mary Ellen is still a proud Girl Scout. “I don’t know if you ever retire from Girl Scouts! I always tell people I’m a Lifetime Member. If I have to leave with one thought about my time as a Girl Scout, it's the people I’ve met; people I still speak to, to this day, that have been lifelong friends.”
