James Francis "Buck" Burshears (1909 in

Swink, Colorado Swink is a Statutory Town in Otero County, Colorado, United States. The population was 604 at the 2020 census. History A post office called Swink has been in operation since 1906. The community was named after George W. Swink, a Colorado p ...

– 1987 in

La Junta, Colorado La Junta is a home rule municipality in, the county seat of, and the most populous municipality of Otero County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 7,322 at the 2020 United States census. La Junta is located on the Arkansa ...

) was the founder of the

Koshare Indian Dancers The Koshare Indian Museum is an art and scouting museum in La Junta, Colorado. The building, located on the Otero Junior College campus, is a tri-level museum with an attached kiva that is built with the largest self-supporting log roof in the wo ...

and the troop's Scoutmaster for over half a century. His poem "The Scoutmaster's Prayer" has been an inspiration to thousands of Scouters throughout the world. The Koshare Indians were formed as a

senior project A culminating project (also known as a senior project, grad project or exit project), is a project that challenges high school seniors to demonstrate their academic knowledge in an experiential way (in most cases). According to the United States ...

while Burshears was a student at

Colorado College Colorado College is a private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Founded in 1874 by Thomas Nelson Haskell in his daughter's memory, the college offers over 40 majors a ...

. Burshears spearheaded the

Koshare Indian Museum The Koshare Indian Museum is an art and scouting museum in La Junta, Colorado. The building, located on the Otero Junior College campus, is a tri-level museum with an attached kiva that is built with the largest self-supporting log roof in the w ...

, regarded as one of the finest collections of

Native American Native Americans or Native American usually refers to Native Americans in the United States. Related terms and peoples include: Ethnic groups * Indigenous peoples of the Americas, the pre-Columbian peoples of North, South, and Central America ...

artifacts in the world, housed on the campus of

Otero Junior College Otero College is a public community college in La Junta, Colorado. In fall 2022, the college had an enrollment of 999 students. History Otero College was established in 1941 and was named La Junta Junior College. Which was operated by the schoo ...

. The Koshare Indian museum hosts a unique

Boy Scout A Scout, Boy Scout, Girl Scout or, in some countries, a Pathfinder is a participant in the Scout Movement, usually aged 10–18 years, who engage in learning scoutcraft and outdoor and other special interest activities. Some Scout organizatio ...

Explorer Exploration is the process of exploring, an activity which has some Expectation (epistemic), expectation of Discovery (observation), discovery. Organised exploration is largely a human activity, but exploratory activity is common to most organis ...

program which trains the

Scouts Scouting or the Scout Movement is a youth social movement, movement which became popularly established in the first decade of the twentieth century. It follows the Scout method of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activi ...

in both Indian dance and costumes. The Scouts give dance performances during the summer and also host many other

Scout troop A Scout troop is a term adopted into use with Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and the Scout Movement to describe their basic units. The term troop echoes a group of mounted scouts in the military or an expedition and follows the terms cavalry, mounted i ...

s passing through the area. "The Scoutmaster's Prayer" was written during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

when Burshears had received word of one of his Scouts

missing in action Missing in action (MIA) is a casualty (person), casualty classification assigned to combatants, military chaplains, combat medics, and prisoner of war, prisoners of war who are reported missing during wartime or ceasefire. They may have been ...

. Burshears was scheduled to speak to the group the next day at their annual

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

party, but he was at a loss for words. By early morning he had completed "The Scoutmaster's Prayer", said to have been "a poem that has become a clear statement of his life's guiding theme". It has been printed in thousands of Koshare booklets and virtually every book or article written about him.Kelly, Jack, ''Koshare'', Boulder, Colorado. Pruett Publishing Company;,1975

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burshears, J.F. 1909 births 1987 deaths Colorado College alumni People from Otero County, Colorado