Catherine "Kay" N. Pollard (June 25, 1918 – December 11, 2006)Catherine "Kay" Pollard Obituary
/ref> was the first female

Scoutmaster A Scout leader or Scouter generally refers to the trained adult leader of a Scout unit. The terms used vary from country to country, over time, and with the type of unit. Roles There are many different roles a leader can fulfill depending on t ...

in the

Boy Scouts of America The Boy Scouts of America (BSA, colloquially the Boy Scouts) is one of the largest scouting organizations and one of the largest List of youth organizations, youth organizations in the United States, with about 1.2 million youth partici ...

(BSA). She led Boy Scout Troop 13 in

Milford, Connecticut Milford is a coastal city in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, located between New Haven and Bridgeport. The population was 50,558 at the 2020 United States Census. The city includes the village of Devon and the borough of Woodmon ...

, from 1973 to 1975 but the BSA refused to recognize her as a Scoutmaster until 1988. Pollard had tried to register as Scoutmaster in 1974 and 1976. Troop 13 in Milford eventually dissolved when nobody else stepped up to be Scoutmaster. Her 1980s court case was won by the BSA and drew international attention. In January 1984 the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities ruled she had the right to be a Scoutmaster, but in May 1986 a judge overturned that ruling on the grounds boys needed a male role model and that BSA had the right to make its own rules since it was a private organization. The

Connecticut Supreme Court The Connecticut Supreme Court, formerly known as the Connecticut Supreme Court of Errors, is the highest court in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It consists of a Chief Justice and six Associate Justices. The seven justices sit in Hartford, acr ...

also ruled in favor of the BSA on July 6, 1987 (see ''Quinnipiac Council, BSA v. Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities'', 528 A. 2d 352, 357 (Conn. 1987)). On February 11, 1988, the Boy Scouts of America abolished gender requirements on all volunteer positions, ending Pollard's 14-year legal battle. Pollard stated: "I do think that this is marvelous," she said at the time, "because there have been women all over the United States, in fact all over the world, that have been doing these things for the Boy Scouts because they could not get a male leader, but we could not get recognition for the things we’ve done." She died on December 13, 2006 in

Seminole, Florida Seminole is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. The population was 19,364 at the 2020 census. History The first white settlement at Seminole was made in the 1840s. This community was named after the Seminole tribe whose descendant ...

, and was buried in Milford. For her funeral in Milford on December 18, 2006, her casket was carried on a Milford fire truck. She had served the fire department as a volunteer in several positions, including bugler, for many years and when the BSA eventually allowed female Scoutmasters, it was the Milford Fire Department that sponsored a Boy Scout troop so she could be a Scoutmaster. Pollard's other interests included

motorcycling Motorcycling is the act of riding a motorcycle. For some people, motorcycling may be the only affordable form of individual motorized transportation, and small- displacement motorcycles are the most common motor vehicle in the most populous ...

, supporting veteran's issues, bugling, and chicken farming.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pollard, Catherine 2006 deaths History of women's rights in the United States People from Milford, Connecticut 1918 births Scouting pioneers