There's nothing more exciting than seeing Girl Scouts set up a table and sell Girl Scout Cookies. Residents at Phoebe Berks retirement community in Wernersville, Pennsylvania got the chance to pick up some of their favorite cookies this week, sold by Troop 1814 of Sinking Spring and special guest, 98-year-old Ronnie Backenstoe, one of the oldest Girl Scouts in America.
Videos by Wide Open Country
Ronnie Backenstoe Sells Cookies to Fellow Retirement Home Residents
Meet Ronnie Backenstoe of Berks County, Pennsylvania. She's an independent living resident in the Phoebe Berks retirement community, likes to talk with friends, and has been a Girl Scout since 1932. According to WFMZ, as a child, Veronica "Ronnie" Backenstoe asked her mother when she could be part of a troop. "My mom said, 'When you're 10,' so when I was 10, I was ready to go!" Ronnie exclaimed, sharing she's been a part of the Girl Scouting community since she was 10 years old when the Great Depression was taking the United States by full-force and Herbert Hoover, the 31st president of the United States, was in office. To put it in perspective, the year Ronnie started selling cookies was the same year Al Capone was convicted for income tax evasion and Amelia Earhart became the first woman to make a solo air crossing over the Atlantic Ocean. Back then troops actually made their own cookies!
The Berks county woman has been involved ever since, acting as a troop leader which took her around the world to places like Switzerland and Jamaica with her troop. After World War II she enrolled in Cedar Crest College to study sociology and psychology, however, during her enrollment, she was asked to move to Berks County to train fellow scout leaders. Ronnie didn't hesitate and left, never receiving her degree. When she was 96 years old, Cedar Crest College's School of Adult and Graduate Education awarded her with a very special honorary degree to celebrate her contribution to the community.
She'll be selling Girl Scout Cookies again next week. According to Ronnie, her favorite Girl Scout cookie flavor is peanut butter.
