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Brewton resident Wade L. Hartley was recently honored by the Boy Scouts of America’s national honor society, the Order of the Arrow, with its highest recognition, the Distinguished Service Award at their national conference at Colorado University, July 29-August3, 2024 in Boulder.
Presented at the national conference held every two to three years, The Distinguished Service Award (DSA) is bestowed for longtime, exceptional service on a sectional, regional, or national level. Since first being presented in 1940, and including this year’s class of 53, there have only been 1,125 recipients, representing less than one percent of the organization’s membership since its formation in 1915. There have only been 22 recipients from Alabama and Hartley is the only one from Escambia County.
Beyond his continuing longtime involvement on the council level, he served as Associate Section Adviser for ten years, Section Adviser for seven years, on five different national taskforces, as a training facilitator for two region events, and on training staff for eleven national events, including the last six in key leadership positions. At this year’s national conference, he served as the Deputy Lead Adviser for Training. He is a member of the Order of the Arrow’s National Sub-Committee for Region Operations, and serves on the Eastern Region Committee.
He is married to Susan Fisher Hartley who is a Pre-K teacher at A.C. Moore Primary School, and they have three children, Houston who attends Samford University, Sarah who attends the University of Montevallo, and Kendall who attends T.R. Miller High School. Hartley has served as the Escambia County Public Defender for almost 18 years.