Richard LaVerne Scott (Scotty)

Oldest of four siblings, Richard LaVerne Scott was born May 26, 1933, in Alliance, Nebraska, to LaVerne and Agnes Harris Scott. His father was a Burlington Route section foreman in western Nebraska and South Dakota. A devoted homemaker, his mother exhibited a creative bent in colorful ceramics and a host of meticulously crafted quilts. He attended grade schools in Provo, South Dakota and Marsland, Nebraska.

Richard (Scotty) graduated from Platte Valley Academy in Shelton, Nebraska, and began studies at Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska. On June 15, 1953, Richard married Charlene Deming in Lincoln, Nebraska, a union that would last 70 years. He was drafted into the Army in October 1953. The next two years were spent with assignments to various military posts ending at the dental clinic at Ft. Benjamin Harrison, Indianapolis, Indiana.

He graduated from college in 1957 with a major in business and an interest in hospital administration, preparing him for his first position at Harding Hospital, Worthington, Ohio. In 1964 the family moved to Kettering, Ohio, where Richard became the 105th employee at the new Charles F. Kettering Memorial Hospital. In 1971 he earned an MBA from Dayton’s Wright State University.

Richard also held administrative positions at Porter Adventist Hospital, Denver, Colorado; Memorial Community Hospital, Bertha, Minnesota; and Sedgwick County Memorial Hospital, Julesburg, Colorado.

An active member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Richard for many years enthusiastically led out in Pathfinder Clubs - the church’s youth organization - at various locations. During the years in Ohio, a highlight for him was sponsoring the group’s Polar Bears, camping during the winter for eight seasons.

A significant avocation which brought noteworthy fulfillment and satisfaction to Richard was his many years of Maranatha mission building projects, an outreach of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. He participated in at least 30 venues. Some of the overseas locations included Quirhue, Chili; Santa Cruz Island in the Galapagos; Juliaca, Peru; Ciudad Obregon, Mexico; and the Dominican Republic.

Recreationally, his chief interest was baseball, and in his early years he enjoyed playing softball. He was loyal to the Cincinnati Reds when living in Ohio. He kept score meticulously at the 1993 inaugural Rockies game, noting on the scorecard, “80,277 attended,” and continued a lifetime interest in the team. In his earlier years in Grand Junction, he would frequently be in the stands at JUCO games. Also an avid football fan, he has consistently rooted for the Broncos.

A working change came in 1996 with the purchase of a peach orchard in widely known-for-its-fruit Palisade, Colorado, in the Grand Valley of Western Colorado. There he designed and built a home with views of the Grand Mesa and Mt. Garfield. In spite of the ever-present threats of hail and late spring freezes, this effort brought him a great deal of satisfaction, and he enjoyed trucking fruit to family and patrons in Las Vegas, Kansas City, and South Dakota, a well as roadside sales locally.

When Richard reached 70, he retired from the taxing labor of orcharding, and he and his wife joined Rhonda and two sons in the area of Collegedale, Tennessee, and spent 10 delightful years keeping up with landscaping five acres surrounding a lovely home, and taking advantage of the grandsons’ myriad activities encompassing softball, basketball, choral, band, and drama.

When the younger Tennessee grandson graduated college, a decision was made to move to Payson, Arizona. Also living in Arizona were his brother and two of Charlene’s sisters, and opportunities to visit on several occasions made for an interesting sojourn.

Richard’s diminishing health brought them back to extended family in Grand Junction, Colorado - a move that fortuitously preceded the pandemic shutdown by a couple of months. For the past few months Richard was kindly cared for in Mesa Manor where he died in his sleep about 5 o’clock Monday morning, August 28, 2023.

Survivors include: wife Charlene; daughter Rhonda, sons Randy (Cheri) and Richard (Caprice), of Grand Junction, Colorado; daughter Rachel Mountain (Aaron) of Mt. Vernon, Washington; brother Wayne (Sharon) of Roseburg, Oregon; sister Joan (Richard) of Grand Junction; twelve grandchildren, three great-grandchildren, several cousins, and a number of nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents and sister Mary Alyce Jewett of Loveland, Colorado.

A burial with military honors for Richard will be held Thursday, September 28, 2023 at 1:00 PM at Veterans Memorial Cemetery of Western Colorado, 2830 Riverside Pkwy., Grand Junction, CO 81501. A celebration of life will occur Friday, September 29, 2023 at 7:00 PM at The Seventh Day Adventist Church, 550 25 1/2 Rd., Grand Junction, CO 81505.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.callahan-edfast.com for the Scott family.