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Seventy years ago, Nancy Hackett was a Girl Scout, and when she started her first permanent job, she called the Girl Scout office and said she wanted to be a leader.
Nearly 60 years ago, Hackett moved to Romeoville and assisted her minister’s wife in a troop, which she eventually took over.
“She is dedicated and passionate about what she does. She has been a Girl Scout volunteer over 50 years and when she gets involved in something, she stays with it. She’s very creative,” said Debbie Newara, a staff member for Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana.
“My favorite part of Girl Scouts is camping. When I was a kid I went to summer camp for two weeks and that was my favorite part of the year besides Christmas. I took troops camping with leaders and then started camping on my own with my dog,” Hackett said.
As a history buff, Hackett’s next favorite volunteer task was to join the Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana Council Historians in 1987.
“I love seeing old stuff and collecting old stuff,” she said. “It’s a surprise when boxes come to me. I just received one a week or two ago of patterns to make uniforms and patterns to make uniforms for American Girl Dolls.”
One of Hackett’s favorite finds was an old khaki uniform with 20 badges sewn on it. One patch on the uniform was the highest award, the Golden Eaglet award, which was used into the 1930s before its name was changed to the gold award.
Hackett then saw a picture in the Herald-News of a girl with a uniform on.
“I looked at the picture and the sleeves, pulled out the uniform I had, enlarged the picture and knew the woman in the picture was the one who had owned the uniform,” Hackett said. “It’s the thrill of the hunt.”
Newara said Hackett even has her own Girl Scout museum in her house.
“She makes Girl Scout history come alive. It’s not like reading information in books. The girls can touch and see the things. Nancy is a good story teller,” Newara said.
In addition to her involvement in Girl Scouts, Hackett remains active in the Romeoville Area Historical Society and has been president for 15 years. She also co-authored a book with others in the community, writing seven of the 10 chapters and the photo captions.
“With the Romeoville Area Historical Society, it’s wonderful when old timers come in and know history more than I do,” Hackett said. “It’s also fun to do. I tell myself I’m not going to go to the museum three to four times per week, but I do.”
As a librarian, she joined the board of directors of White Oak Library and is currently in her second six-year term.
“I have been reading since I was 5,” Hackett said. “I always have a book in my hand, so what other profession do you go into?”
When asked what sparked her passion to volunteer, Hackett said she was taught to volunteer in the Girl Scouts. As an adult, the only way to get involved with Girl Scouts was to volunteer. She then passed those values on to the kids she mentored.