Soaring like an Eagle

The day he turned twelve, James Doman joined the fledgling Boy Scout program in his boyhood Idaho town. He became an Eagle Scout in 1927 at the age of seventeen, earning twenty-one more merit badges than required. His older brother, Rulon, was one of the first Eagle Scouts in the state of Idaho, and his sons both earned their Eagle awards, as have several of his grandsons.

But earning his Eagle Scout award was only the beginning of Brother Doman’s participation in Scouting. He served for thirty-six years in the Denver area in positions ranging from Scoutmaster to assistant district commissioner. In 1974 he received the Silver Beaver Award from the Denver Boy Scout council for “distinguished service to boyhood.” More than a hundred boys directly influenced by him have earned their Eagle awards.

Now a patriarch in the Greeley Colorado Stake, Brother Doman has spoken at dozens of Eagle courts of honor. He still echoes the words spoken at his own Eagle court of honor, when his father said essentially, “Scouting provides many things in life that I want my kids to know about.”