A 98 Year Old Girl Scout Still Going Strong

At 98 years young, a Pennsylvania woman continues a mission she started when she was just 10 years old. Ronnie Backenstoe is still selling Girl Scout cookies. She’s even part…

Carla Rea

Updated Feb 18, 2020 9:30 AM PST

A 98 Year Old Girl Scout Still Going Strong

At 98 years young, a Pennsylvania woman continues a mission she started when she was just 10 years old. Ronnie Backenstoe is still selling Girl Scout cookies. She's even part of a troop.

Ronnie said 'When can I be a Girl Scout?' My mom said, 'When you're 10.' So when I was 10, I was ready to go!" "I became a Girl Scout in 1932!"

Fast forward to 2020 and her fellow scouts have joined her for a cookie sale at Phoebe Berks, a retirement community. Troop Leader Barbara Allen Perelli says Ronnie's energy is non-stop, and her younger fellow scouts say she makes them laugh.

Ronnie says the Girl Scouts have taught her so much. "I think that it was just part of living. That's really what Girl Scouting is, it teaches you how to live," Ronnie said.

Ronnie said when she first sold cookies in the 1930s, there were only three different kinds and they only cost 15 cents.

Her favorite? Peanut butter.

Carla ReaWriter

Carla Rea is the morning show co-host on “The Mike and Carla Morning Show" on 96.3 KKLZ, in Las Vegas. She has been working with her partner and friend Mike O'Brian for the past 25 plus years. At KKLZ for 12 years. Carla Rea is a Gracie Award winner. She started out in talk radio, "when talk radio was still fun" Rea says. Prior to, and along with doing the morning show, Carla is also a comedian. You may have seen her on Conan O'Brien, Evening at The Improv, Showtime, or several comedy clubs across the country. Carla also worked as a light feature reporter at KSNV/NBC Las Vegas, going behind the scenes at various shows, and restaurants on the Las Vegas strip. As a content creator 96.3 KKLZ, Carla writes in a sarcastic, cheeky, unapologetic way on Las Vegas, movies, TV, celebrities, and this thing we call life.