When Adele Trapp first volunteered as a den mother for one of Brooklyn's Cub Scout groups, Dwight Eisenhower was President and a first-class stamp cost three cents.
That was 53 years ago. The mild-mannered great-grandmother has been opening her heart to kids ever since.
Trapp, 96, has attended weekly scout meetings of Bedford-Stuyvesant's Pack 263 for more than half her life and has taught kids arts and crafts while offering pearls of wisdom.
In honor of her decades-long commitment, she has just been honored as the world's longest-serving den mother by Guinness World Records.
She overtook Marion Rohner of the Hudson Valley Council Boy Scouts, who served 43 years.
"It's beautiful; it's very nice," Trapp said as she was presented with a certificate of her achievements at St. Phillips Church on Decatur St. this week.
"I'm not out for an award."
This is not the first time Trapp has been a record breaker.
In 2005, when she was 90, she was celebrated as the oldest employee in New York's public school system for her work as a full-time school aide at Junior High School 258 in Brooklyn.
"She loves children. If we are at home, I'll hear her say 'Where are the children?'" said her daughter Evelyn Rainford, 75, who is cub master to the same Brooklyn scout group.
"She's just a simple lady who loves children. That's the bottom line."
Trapp, who lives in Crown Heights, has seen generations of young scouts come to St. Phillips Church, where the two-hour Tuesday evening get-togethers are held.
One of her former scouts, who is now retired, has brought his own kids and grandkids through the doors, her daughter said.
"The children, they look at you as though you're their parent," Trapp explained.
"You have to really take care of them because they make themselves a part of you."
Trapp arrives at meetings each week decked out in a bright red, slightly frayed jacket covered in badges of merit from her years with Pack 263.
It sits over her dark green pants and brown shirt, held in place with a regulation scout necktie.
Given her impeccable attire and manners, Trapp has little patience for any boy who isn't equally well-dressed and behaved.
Still, the youngsters respond with adoration.
"She's fun," said Zachary Bentley, 10.
"She's helpful. She gives us good advice."
Adrian Israel, 12, marveled at the thought of his den mother appearing in next year's edition of the Guinness Book of World Records.
Then he revealed another reason he's so fond of this hard-working woman.
That was 53 years ago. The mild-mannered great-grandmother has been opening her heart to kids ever since.
In honor of her decades-long commitment, she has just been honored as the world's longest-serving den mother by Guinness World Records.
She overtook Marion Rohner of the Hudson Valley Council Boy Scouts, who served 43 years.
"It's beautiful; it's very nice," Trapp said as she was presented with a certificate of her achievements at St. Phillips Church on Decatur St. this week.
"I'm not out for an award."
This is not the first time Trapp has been a record breaker.
In 2005, when she was 90, she was celebrated as the oldest employee in New York's public school system for her work as a full-time school aide at Junior High School 258 in Brooklyn.
"She loves children. If we are at home, I'll hear her say 'Where are the children?'" said her daughter Evelyn Rainford, 75, who is cub master to the same Brooklyn scout group.
"She's just a simple lady who loves children. That's the bottom line."
Trapp, who lives in Crown Heights, has seen generations of young scouts come to St. Phillips Church, where the two-hour Tuesday evening get-togethers are held.
One of her former scouts, who is now retired, has brought his own kids and grandkids through the doors, her daughter said.
"The children, they look at you as though you're their parent," Trapp explained.
"You have to really take care of them because they make themselves a part of you."
Trapp arrives at meetings each week decked out in a bright red, slightly frayed jacket covered in badges of merit from her years with Pack 263.
It sits over her dark green pants and brown shirt, held in place with a regulation scout necktie.
Given her impeccable attire and manners, Trapp has little patience for any boy who isn't equally well-dressed and behaved.
Still, the youngsters respond with adoration.
"She's fun," said Zachary Bentley, 10.
"She's helpful. She gives us good advice."
Adrian Israel, 12, marveled at the thought of his den mother appearing in next year's edition of the Guinness Book of World Records.
Then he revealed another reason he's so fond of this hard-working woman.
