Girl Scout Ties Win Local Woman Parade Ride

Santa Monica resident Gail Boyle didn't think for a minute that her essay on how Girl Scouts had helped her become a better senior vice president at Union Bank would win her a ride on the Girls Scouts of America float in Monday's Rose Parade.

"My first thought was 'Gosh, what a great thing for the bank to do,'" she said about hearing that Union Bank was sponsoring the float in honor of the Girls Scouts' 100-year anniversary.

Explaining that she was at a gathering of women who are senior vice presidents and higher at the bank, Boyle said that the group was told about the sponsorship and how that would lead to one of the women getting to ride on the float. While there are no hard figures, Boyle said that quite a few of the women executives at the bank are former Girl Scouts, including herself.

As Boyle wrote in her essay, her experience with Girl Scouts started with her mother, Ruth Ireland, who came to the United States as a young girl to escape Nazi persecution of the Jews.

Her mother joined the Girl Scouts as a way to assimilate and learn about her new culture. Two generations later, Boyle's daughter was a scout for about three years, going to the same camp Boyle had attended when she was the same age.

"I had no expectations that I would be chosen," Boyle said about her essay.

If anything, she was mostly glad to think about something she hadn't in a long while.

"I hadn't thought about Girl Scouts in a long time and I was kind of grateful for the chance to lead my thoughts through that process."

She said the riding in the parade was fantastic.

"Oh my gosh, what an experience," she said. "It was amazing. Everyone should do it once."

The float was a two-piece affair, including a small satellite float in front. It featured different activities, including robotics and the famous cookie sales, that modern scouts participate in today, a flowered girl in a jet pack hovering above to represent the future, and a book with the image of Girl Scouts of America founder Julliette Gordon Lowe and the string of pearls she sold to start the organization.

The float was accompanied by a color guard and more than 60 Gold and Silver Girl Scouts, the equivalent of Eagle Scout in Boy Scouts.

Boyle said she was surprised to hear so many people cheering for the Girl Scouts, often exclaiming that they had been scouts, themselves. But most striking of all, she said, was the transition from the parade staging area to the parade route, itself.

"When you're on the float and the float starts moving and the parade hasn't begun yet," Boyle said about the ride along the staging area on Orange Grove Boulevard.

She explained that as the float moved along—it was roughly in the 80th position in the parade—there was the staging section and then the section where the crowd started.

"It's unbelievable," she said. "This is after an hour and a half of the parade, and [the crowds] were just thrilled. I've never seen anything like this from this perspective."