Lest We Forget.. Mr. Stanley Woodruff - The 3rd KL Founder

56 years after the founding of 3rd KL, we sadly have forgotten the figures who made all this fun possible in the first place. Although 3rd KL prides itself in its reasonable amount of archive and record keeping, there is a giant blip at the start of our history. 

Every recruit going through 3rd KL will have to learn BB History, of which one section will focus on company history. Recruits will learn about the man who founded the company - Mr. Stanley Woodruff, who was then an officer with 1st KL. Unfortunately, that's all we knew about the man. Towards the end of 2012, we tried to trace back the origins of this mysterious person. Through various contacts and "Boys" who were founding members of 1st KL, we were able to piece a few details together. 

It is known that Stanley Woodruff service in BB Malaysia (or Malaya, back then) was as a lieutenant with 1st KL. At the time, Khoo Onn Soo was the Captain. Later, Mr Woodruff succeeded Mr. Khoo and became the Captain of the 1st KL. He was a good officer and a no-nonsense disciplinarian but very fair in treating his charges. He was also a strong believer in promoting the other pillar of BB, that is, the development of the spiritual side of the movement.

Mr. Wooduff was instrumental in teaching the new BB company at the YMCA the ropes of starting the company, of which was captained by Mr. Paul Peter, 3rd KL's first captain. Mr. Stanley Woodruff was never an officer with 3rd KL. It is also known that Mr. T. Mori, a prominent figure in YMCA, played a major role in making arrangements to start the BB. 

Unfortunately, from there what we know about 3rd KL's founder is little. He was Central District President and was involved in drawing up the District's Constitution. What he did, occupation, country of origin (probably British, but one can never be sure - might have been from any Commonwealth Realm) and if he is still alive is completely unknown. It is a sad loss that this part of history could be loss forever. Yet, we can be thankful that we did piece together something.. putting a face to the man that started it all for us. 

Mr. Woodruff is seen in this 1st KL group photo taken in 1958.

Possibly the only picture of the 3rd KL founder in uniform. 

Special thanks to Mr. Martin Chong, Mr Eddie Chong, Mr. Tan Kim Soon, Mr. Terence Tay and Mr. Alfred Ong  who used connections within the Stedfast Associaiton KL. Without you, we would never have been able to put a face on the man.