
In a historic cemetery in Newington, Connecticut, on one picture-perfect day last fall, an Eagle Scout service project was completed.
First, the project’s organizer got a lesson on properly cleaning grave markers from an expert on these matters. Then, as volunteers came and went throughout the day, the organizer passed on what he had learned, instructing them on how to use the supplies he’d gathered and telling them which markers could be cleaned and which must be left alone.
It was not a simple task. Some of the stones were more than 125 years old. Those were not to be messed with. The markers installed after 1900, however, could be cleaned very particularly and carefully.
Responding to a call for volunteers on social media, around 50 people showed up to help. Each of them met with the organizer first to learn the proper cleaning process and then went to work.
Some tended to one stone; others cleaned multiple stones.
Donuts were consumed; congratulatory handshakes were abundant.
At the end of the day, around 100 markers stood out from the rest because of how shiny and new they looked.
All in all, not a bad day.
But there was one thing that made this Eagle Scout service project unique: The person who organized it was 53 years old.
He may never officially be an Eagle Scout on paper, but this project was special to Matthew Dicks. When Dicks was 17 years old, his trail to Eagle was cut short by a horrific car accident just weeks before he would have fulfilled all the requirements to become an Eagle Scout.
It took months for Dicks to fully recover from the accident, during which he turned 18. He never had the chance to complete his project, something that gnawed away at him year after year after year.
It took more than three decades for him to come to grips with what happened. In some ways, the sorrow and regret are still there, something he may never fully be rid of.
But finally, after all these years, Matthew Dicks’ Eagle Scout service project is complete.
A dedicated Scout
Growing up in Blackstone, Massachusetts, Dicks was passionate about Scouting. He voraciously consumed merit badges and rank requirements.
“I piled on the merit badges,” he says. “I did all the things you could do, and I loved doing it.”
He served as patrol leader, then senior patrol leader. He attended summer camps at Yawgoog Scout Reservation in nearby Rhode Island.
He earned the rank of Life Scout when he was 16. That gave him nearly two years to complete the requirements for the rank of Eagle Scout.
In the meantime, he was also active in marching band and track and field. He won a district championship in the pole vault.
“I slowly prepared my Eagle project, thinking I’d get it done just in time,” he says.
There was a cemetery in Blackstone where his Scout troop had planted trees a few years earlier. However, the saplings all died shortly after. When it came time to choose an Eagle Scout service project, he reached out to officials at that cemetery to find out what could be done.
They had a big list of projects that could be completed to beautify the grounds. Dicks felt strongly that this was what he wanted to do.
His project was scheduled for mid-January, about a month before he’d turn 18. He had just a few more meetings to attend and a few more forms to sign.
Then, two days before Christmas, he was involved in a head-on collision with another vehicle.
Paramedics saved his life, but he suffered major injuries to his head and chest. He had to have dental surgery to reinstall his bottom row of teeth. He was in the hospital for a week. His leg was in a cast for months.
He would undergo surgeries on both knees, ending his track career.
And during that time, he turned 18 years old.
Dicks says that before he even left the hospital, he asked his mom to request an extension to complete his Eagle Scout service project after his 18th birthday, giving him time to recover from the accident.
For years, he believed that the request had been denied.
Eventually, though, he began to realize that it was more likely that the request was never submitted.

Trying to move on
Dicks says he grew up in a somewhat dysfunctional household. He got little support from his mom and stepfather, who were busy dealing with their own demons.
He says he has no memory of them ever coming to a Scouting event or track-and-field competition. He had to ride his bike to and from Scout meetings just to stay active in the program.
By the age of 17, he was working full time at McDonald’s while trying to finish high school and become an Eagle Scout.
While attending a Yawgoog reunion years later, he asked his former Scoutmaster if he ever received a request for an extension.
“It was a long time ago, so I can’t say for sure,” the man told him, “but I have no recollection that any extension was asked for.”
(For what it’s worth, during our phone conversation late last year, I told Dicks that, based on my knowledge of the program, such an extension would almost certainly have been approved had it been submitted.)
Decades went by.
Dicks became a teacher in Newington.
He got married and started a family.
When his nephew became a Scout, Dicks volunteered as an assistant Scoutmaster.
His son, Charlie, is now 12 and a member of Troop 347 in Newington. His daughter, Clara, is 15 and a member of Troop 1347. Dicks has made it his life’s purpose to be the present parent that he never had.
While he still teaches, Dicks is also an author, storyteller, public speaker and corporate consultant.
Over the years, his wife, Elysha, would tell him that she thinks he learned more from Scouting than he did in school.
And still, the sorrow about his uncompleted Eagle Scout service project lingered.
One day, a discussion in his school classroom turned to the topic of regret. One of his students asked if he himself had any regrets. He told them about his interrupted path to Eagle Scout.
One of his students suggested, “Well, you can still do the project, right?”
Unfinished business
After multiple starts and stops, Dicks decided to organize a project to benefit the Newington Center Cemetery in his current hometown, mirroring his original plans to perform service for a cemetery in Blackstone.
“I met with the people at the cemetery,” he says. “I gathered the equipment. I got the word out.”
When the day finally arrived, Dicks was overwhelmed by the support he received. Members of his kids’ troops showed up. Some of his students showed up. Most interestingly, members of the community who were Eagle Scouts whom Dicks had never met showed up ready to help.
“We had people I didn’t know who came and said, ‘I’m an Eagle Scout and wanted to be here to help,’” Dicks says. “As a boy, I didn’t have a lot of support. So getting that kind of support from people now just meant an enormous amount to me.”
When the day was over, Dicks says he felt a powerful sense of accomplishment, mixed with that familiar tinge of regret.
“I felt great that so many people had come out,” he says. “I could literally look out and see all of these stones that looked brand-new. It just felt great to know that all of those people were willing to come out for part of their Saturday, that all these strangers came out to help me. For that, I felt great.”
And then there’s still a part of him that wonders, “Why couldn’t I have done this when I was 17?”
Dicks says Elysha is always telling him, “None of this is your fault.” I told him the same thing when we spoke on the phone. Someday, he says he hopes to fully believe that.
“Part of me thinks I should have been relentless in getting it done,” he says. “I should have pushed harder. But the whole purpose of this was to get myself to the point that I can say I did everything I needed to do to become an Eagle Scout.”
Clara and Charlie have both spoken of becoming Eagle Scouts themselves.
“I’m thrilled for both of them to be in Scouting,” Dicks says. “I have a totally positive view of Scouts. I loved it. I loved being around it.
“I still have my original Boy Scout Handbook in a prominent place. I tell people it’s one of the best books you can buy.”
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