Father Mark Spring has received the Silver Beaver Award from the Mississippi Valley Council of the Boy Scouts of America. The Silver Beaver is the highest award given at the council level for distinguished service in Boy Scouts.
Fr. Spring, parochial vicar at Holy Family Parish in Fort Madison, received the award Feb. 8 at the council’s recognition banquet in Quincy, Ill.
He received the award for his service to the council’s executive board as chaplain and for service to the Boy Scouts of America in its efforts to provide the scouting program to young men. Fr. Spring is the chartered organization representative of Cub Scout Pack 7 and Boy Scout Troop 7 through Holy Family Parish. He also has served as chaplain at seven national jamborees. Jamborees are national scouting events held every four years that attract around 410,000 scouts.
Fr. Spring received the Eagle Scout Award, the highest award of the Boy Scouts of America, in September 1965. He was a member of Troop 7, at that time chartered at Sacred Heart Parish in Fort Madison. He also earned the Catholic Church’s Ad Altare Dei award for Boy Scouts. He is a member of the honor camping organization, Tribe of the Silver Tomahawk, and Keeper of the Wampum. In the fall of 2013 Fr. Spring completed the Wood Badge Training Course, which provides the highest level of training for adult scouts.
A graduate of Fort Madison High School, Fr. Spring served in the U.S. Air Force from 1969-73, and then graduated from St. Ambrose University in Davenport in 1976. He was ordained to the priesthood on Aug. 29, 1980. He served in the U.S. Air Force as a chaplain from 1984-97. After retiring from the military in 1997, he returned to the Diocese of Davenport to serve as a priest of the diocese.
