History of the Malia'Cones Order of the Arrow Chapter

By Richard M. Phillips, Sr., Craig Ongly, and Richard E. Donaldson, II

    The Malia'Cones Order of the Arrow Chapter grew out of the split of the Bois D' Arc District of the Circle Ten Council. The origional chapter of the Bois D' Arc District was named "Bow Wood" chapter which had over 413 members. The chapter only had about 15 members coming to meetings and only three or four to any Mikanakawa Lodge event. 

   The "Bow Wood" chapter servered the Bois D' Arc District for 20 years before the split of the district at the end of 1994 into two new districts of the Circle Ten Council. The split was a north and south division. To the north, a new district named Arrowhead and a new Ordrer of the Arrow chapter named Sun-Nuk with a 219 members from the old "Bow Wood" chapter. To the sourh the new district name of Great Plains with a new Order of the Arrew chapter to be formed and named with only 194 members of the "Bow Wood" chapter. At the beginning of January 1995, the search for an adult adviser was started as there were many boys waiting with a Chapter Chief and Vice-Chief that were elected at the 1994 Fall Fellowship in September. The new Chapter Chief was Pat Hamilton and the Vice-Chief was Ryan Ongly. After searching all January for an adult adviser by the District Executive Pat Scales and the District Camping Committee Chairman Richard Donaldson, the search ended when Mr. Richard Phillips, Sr., agreed to serve as the first chapter adviser in February 1995, just before the Mikanakawa Lodge "Pow-Wow" at Camp Grayson (now known as Camp James Ray). Pat and Ryan conducted the first unit elections until the chapter had enough members and officers trained to help. The Order of the Arrow Scouts of the Great Plains District were ready to go and with the first meeting to select their leadership of the new unnamed chapter and to spread the word that a new Order of the Arrow chapter had formed.

   The first meeting of the new chapter was held at the Custer Road United Methodist Church in Plano. At this meeting Mr. Phillips introduced himself to the boys and asked that they follow with their own introductions. After some discussion of what and why there is an Order of the Arrow and the duties of the officers of a chapter, the boys nominated fellow arrowmen to run for office. The new chapter officers had only one change, and that was to add a chapter Ordeal Warrior by the name of Ruffs Hanson. The lodge "Pow-Wow" was coming and the chapter still did not have a name. The boys agreed that they wanted a name that would stand for leadership, hard work and to show others what the Order of the Arrow and Scouting was all about. At the Mikanakawa Lodge Pow-Wow in 1995, the chapter name Malia'Cones was born. The name in English would translate to "The Turtle the carries the world on his back". To continue the process of the chapter development the first key three meeting was held and some chapter goals where set. The boys also developed a ranking or level of how the chapter fits into Scouting. The agreed ranking was:

1. The boy and his family will always come first.
2. School requirements before Scouting.
3. Church before Scouting.
4. A Scout's troop and other Scouting before the chapter.
5. Malia'Cones chapter follows the first four.
6. The Great Plains District follows the chapter.
7. The Circle Ten Council follows the Great Plains District.
8. The National Order of the Arrow follows the needs of the Circle Ten Council.
9. The National Boy Scouting activities will follow the needs of the National Order of the Arrow.

   During the first year, the chapter supported the new Great Plains District with a calling out of new elected Scouts and Scouters to the Order of the Arrow at the district's first ever Spring Camporee on April 21-23, 1995 and again at the first Fall Camporee on October 6-8, 1995. With the leadership of Pat and his staff, the Malia'Cones Chapter's membership jumped to 295 with the chapter being awarded Honor Chapter of 1995 and Chapter of the Year for 1995. The first year was a fun and fast year for the  Malia'Cones Chapter.

   For 1996, Ryan Ongly became the next chief and took the to the next level by continuing the tradition of the Order of the Arrow of supporting Scouting and the Great Plains District with calling out of Order of the Arrow candidates at the Spring 1996 and Fall 1996 Camporees. Other officers that supported Ryan were Vice-Chief Ruffs Hanson, Brotherhood Warrior Eric Becker, Ordeal Warrior Ken Utz, Jr., and Mark Herring as the Unit Elections Coordinator. During the year and also in 1998, Mrs. Ongly supported the chapter and her son Ryan by transporting the boys from place to place and the making of some of the outfits for the boys. A BIG THANK YOU goes out to Mr.s Pam Ongly. The Chapter with Ryan's leadership was awarded Honor Chapter for 1996.

   Ken Utz, Jr., was the elected Chapter Chief for 1997 and Eric Becker was not only the Vice-Chief of the chapter, but he was also the Brotherhood Warrior. The Ordeal Warrior was Mich Whittier and the Secretary was Scott Donaldson. During the 1997 year, the chapter attends more Lodge events and was awarded Honor Chapter for 1997, and Ken received Chapter Chief of the Year for 1997 from the

Mikanakawa 101 Lodge. Eric set a goal of 100% Brotherhood conversion by the end the year. The did not happen, but he did end up at 41.9% of the chapter Ordeal members converted and the next year 48.9% were converted. Eric and the other boys did a lot of hard work.

   The Chapter Chief for 1998 was Eric Becker the past Brotherhood Warrior for the Chapter. Eric continued the tradition of leadership of the Chapter to attend more Lodge events and being awarded 1998 Honor Chapter. For 1999, Eric was elected for a second term as Chapter Chief and again lead the Chapter to receive 1999 Honor Chapter, 1999 Chapter of the Year and Eric was also awarded the honor of Chapter Chief of the Year from the Mikanakawa 101 Lodge.

   With the turn of the century, the leadership began with Daniel Anderson as Chapter Chief, Aaron Childers as Vice-Chief, Tim Bowrey as Brotherhood Warrior, David Anderson as Ordeal Warrior, Chris Fenton as Recording Secretary, Doug Martin as Unit Elections Lead and Mr. Dane Reese became the new Chapter Adviser for 2000. Aaron also served as the Chapter Chief the last three months of 2000 as Daniel started college in the fall. The Chapter elections for 2001 saw Aaron  Childers elected to Chapter Chief, Chris Fenton as Vise-Chief, Tim Bowerey returning as Brotherhood Warrior, Zach Francis as Ordeal Warrior, David Klotz as Recording Secretary, Jimmie Weidermier as Unit Elections Lead. Before Aaron could complete his leadership, he started college in the fall and Chris Fenton became the new Chapter Chief for the remainder of 2001. Chris also ran and won the position of Chapter Chief for 2002. At the end of 2002 the Malia'Cones Chapter had a membership of over 430 arrowmen.

   The Malia'Cones Chapter has had strong and experienced adults as advisers. Mr. Richard Phillips, Sr., was Associate Chapter Adviser to the Bow Wood Chapter working with ceremonies. During the adviser ship of Mr. Phillips, Sr., the other adults that supported the chapter have been Mr. Craig Ongly who advised our Unit Elections Chairman, Mr. Will Woods who advised our Ordeal Lead and Mr. Richard Donaldson who supported the chapter as Web master and Associate Chapter Adviser. For 2000 and 2001 Mr. Dane Reese became the new Chapter Adviser. Dane's Associate Advisers were Mr. Jim Bowrey, Mrs. Sharon Lee, Mr. Paul Miesse Brotherhood Warrior Adviser, Mr. Richard Phillips, Sr., and Mr. Richard Donaldson. In 2002, Mr. Ed Arnold become the next Chapter Adviser. Supporting Mr. Arnold were Mr. Scott Frank Brotherhood Warrior Adviser, Mr. Jimmy Francis Ordeal Warrior Adviser, Mrs. Sharon Lee Vice-Chief of Service Adviser, Mr. Jim Bowery Unit Elections Adviser, Mr. Jan-Michael Kolodoski Ceremonies Adviser, Mr. Paul Miesse Recording Secretary Adviser, Mr. Larry Bell Dance Team Adviser and Mr. Richard Donaldson Web master and Vigil Associate Adviser.

   In May of 2003, Mr. Arnold's health caused him to step down as the Malia'Cones Chapter Adviser. After a limited search, Mr. Alan Joyce accepted the position of Chapter Adviser. At the end of 2003 terms of office, the chapter held leadership elections which was a fun event. The speeches from the candidates were very informative and entertaining. Returning for service to the chapter were Mr. Alan Joyce and several previous officers with a new Chapter Recording Secretary who had one of the most entertaining speeches with pictures of his many accomplishments ranging from the many wonders of the world. Two thousand and four looks to be a fun and very active year. The first Lodge event for 2004 was the Pow-Wow with several Malia'Cones attending, competing and placed in the Pow-Wow Native American Dance competitions: Straight Dance 3rd. Place was awarded to Jason Rodda, Northern Traditional Dance 2nd. Place awarded to Thomas Joyce and in the Adult division 3rd. Place was awarded to Mr. Joyce.

   In April 2004, the Malia'Cones held their first service project at  Bob Woodruff Park in Plano picking up trash for four hours of service. After the service time, a Pizza Party was held. The Chapter Vice-Chief of Service was Matthew Kolodoski who led the project and recorded 29 service hours for the chapter.    

   On September 17, 2005, the Malia'Cones chapter held a celebration for reaching ten years of cheerful service. The celebration was held after a day of service to the Great Plains District supporting Webelos Woods and the closing campfire at Camp James Ray. To celebrate, a special ceremony was written by Mr. Richard M. Phillips, Sr., and Mr. Jan Michael Kolodoski that refreshed the memories of the start of the Order of the Arrow, the history of the starting as a new district, a new chapter, and the story of how the chapter's name was found and the reasons for its selection were revealed in the ceremony. Forty-five Malia'Cones members attended this special ceremony presented by Allowat Sakima {Matthew Kolodoski}, Metau {Colin Chisolm}, Nutiket {Thomas Joyce}, Kitchinet {Scott Miesse}, Current Chapter Chief {Alan Joyce}, Chapter Historian {Richard Donaldson}, Chapter Adviser {G. Alan Joyce}, Vigil Honor Representative {Jimmy Francis}, Drummers and Fire Tenders {Phillip Ball and Walker Youngblood}. To also celebrate this milestone, a special Malia'Cones patch was created and was available for pre-order with pickup after the ceremony. Now to see what the next ten years will bring as the Malia'Cones continue in the meaning of its name that stands for leadership, hard work as the "The Turtle that carries the world on his back", a Texas tribe of 1800 to 1840.

   For 2007, the Malia'Cones chapter started with a new leadership originational structure following the Mikanakawa Lodge's new leadersip structure of Vice-Chiefs. Along with this new change, Mr. Alan Joyce retired from his duties as chapter adviser and passed them to Mr. Bill O'Neal.

   2008  under the leadership of chief Larry Long the Malia'Cones chapter continued in the spirt of fellowship and scouting by earning the Honor Chapter status and the Pace Setters Award for being a chapter that has earned Honor Chapter status for five years in a roll. With 2009 beginning, the new chief Aaron Batteiger with his leadership set chapter goals to continue in the Malia'Cones spirt of leading the way by example and setting the bar a little higher.