John MacMillan, 97, a Boy Scout for 85 years

John "Butts" MacMillan, 97, a retired production sales manager who was a member of Boy Scout Troop 160 in Burholme for 85 years, died Saturday, Jan. 21, in an ambulance en route to Jeanes Hospital.

He loved winter camping, and it was fitting that he died outdoors on a cold and snowy day, said his son, Robert.

Mr. MacMillan joined Troop 160 when he was 11. As the troop's official bugler, he first sounded "Taps" after the Burholme Memorial Day parade in 1928, the same year he became a member of the scouts' prestigious Order of the Arrow.

For more than 50 years he played the bugle, laid wreaths at the graves of troop members who died in battle, and made sure the Burholme World War I Monument, and later the Burholme Memorial for Peace, was spiffed up and bedecked with flags for Memorial Day.

Mr. MacMillan was a founder of the Troop 160 Alumni Association, which supports the troop and helps maintain the Burholme memorials and the Jardel Recreation Center. He was a longtime member of the Boy Scout Council of Philadelphia's camping committee.

In 1988, he was honored for 60 years in the Order of the Arrow and presented a check for $1,800. He used the money for a lean-to shelter at Treasure Island, a Boy Scout camp on the Delaware River.

In 2008, he was honored for 80 years in the order, and a campsite on Treasure Island was named in his honor.

Mr. MacMillan grew up with nine siblings in Burholme. He told the Philadelphia Daily News in 1988 that he earned his nickname because "I was so fat when I was a kid my father said my rear end looked like ham butts."

In his youth, Mr. MacMillan played on a championship Pop Warner football team. He graduated from Olney High School in 1933 and attended Strayer Business College in Philadelphia. The school got him a job as office boy for Otto Haas, cofounder of Rohm & Haas Chemical Co.

From 1939 to 1946, Mr. MacMillan served in the Army in Indiana, Virginia, Alabama, and Okinawa.

After his discharge as a master sergeant, he returned to Rohm & Haas and eventually became production sales manager in the textiles division. He was an active member of the company's service club and was host of the annual Christmas party, his son said.

Mr. MacMillan retired in 1975, then spent more than 25 years as a volunteer for information services at Fox Chase Cancer Center. He also drove patients to medical appointments.

As a young scout, he helped his scoutmaster build a log cabin at Lake Minisink in the Poconos. He met his future wife, Florence Dickens, when she visited the cabin next door. When they married in 1949, his wedding gift to her was a pair of hiking boots, their son said.

In 1960, the couple bought a cabin on Lake Minisink, where they spent summers and weekends year-round with friends and family. After Mr. MacMillan retired, they hiked through national parks all over the country.

Mr. MacMillan and his wife moved from Burholme to the Philadelphia Protestant Home three years ago.

In addition to his wife and son, he is survived by a daughter, Carol Copland; a sister; a brother; and six grandchildren.

A funeral will be at 11 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 26, at Immanuel Lutheran Church, 1013 Cottman Ave. Burial will be in Lawnview Cemetery.