Date: 2003-07-08
From: Hoquiam, WA

To: Hoquiam, WA
Miles today: 0.0

A Tribute to Emerson Scott, written by Judy ThomsenEmerson, Dad, Grandpa, Em, Honey, Gramps, Emmet, Uncle Em ¢ these are a few of the names we heard for our dad through the years. He was born Emerson Leslie Scott on March 31, 1913 to Dudley Emerson and Abbie Scott in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. He was raised and went to elementary school in Seattle and Port Angeles. Through the years there isn¢t one of the family who hasn¢t heard stories about people and good times in Port Angeles. Many summers Emerson, Alice, David, Judy and Jane would take a trip ¢around the loop¢ and drive by former Scott family homes in Port Angeles and visit old friends who meant a lot to him from days gone by. Emerson¢s family moved to Hoquiam when he was 15. Emerson was big brother to Velma, Berdine and Wynema. Berdine says he could be a tease and remembers him going ¢around and around¢ with Wynema as they picked on each other. He attended Auburn Academy and Hoquiam High School. Before finishing high school he went to work at Rayonier, Inc. where he stayed for 42 years working on the maintenance crew, putting the finishing touches to the rolls over which the final paper product rolled. He was a perfect example of the text in Ecclesiastes 9: 10: ¢Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.¢ His attention to detail and doing things carefully were very evident in his work. He retired from Rayonier on September 1, 1976. Attention to detail? In his gardening he had a stick marked with grooves and he would lay it on the ground before planting the seeds so that each one was exactly the same distance apart. In the rest home it took him many minutes to get settled at the table for a meal as he maneuvered into just the right position, equal distance on each side of the table from the arms of the wheel chair!Through the years he enjoyed woodworking, gardening, walking, playing the piano and singing, beachcombing and most important to him was his devotion to his wife, children and grandchildren. Trips that he and Alice took to Idaho, Montana, Wisconsin, and California all centered on family except for one extended journey around the United States which they took with special friends Robert and Arlene Fulton in 1981.Emerson was also interested in maintaining his health and had a little system of weights hooked up on one of the garage walls. He would say to us, ¢Vanity, vanity, all is vanity¢ when he saw us putting on makeup or fixing our hair, but no one was more concerned with looking good than Emerson ¢ if there were a fountain of youth he would have set up camp. He was very concerned with not getting wrinkles ¢ if you visited Coleman¢s you might have noticed he has very few. Not only was he concerned with his own, he worried about Alice¢s too! In later years he became very deaf but resisted hearing aids because it would ¢make him look old¢! We often joked that the television was so loud that our hair blew back from the sound! How ironic that at age 89 he got hearing aids and then couldn¢t stand noise at all and spoke so softly himself that we were the ones saying ¢Huh?¢Some wonderful memories: camping with church friends and family at Olympic Hot Springs, Lake Crescent and Hood Canal; trips to the Humptulips and Wynoochee Rivers to swim; summer vacation days in Vancouver to visit the Canadian relatives; dad teaching us how to ride a bike and to drive a car way early on the airport road! And who could forget the family gatherings when everyone wanted to see the home movies and the hassle to get the projector to work! Dad really never raised his voice to anyone but I can just hear him say, ¢Oh, for the love of Mike!¢Then enter the grandchildren¢grandpa would carry a colicky baby around for hours; fix up a bike for a little girl, and even paint it purple if that was the favorite color! He would carve out a house from a big cardboard box for the kids to play with in the backyard. Elizabeth and Emily especially remember how grandpa would hold them on his knee and play ¢dootsie doo¢ ¢ if you don¢t know what that is ask any one of them. He let them fix his hair and he even slept in rollers once so Wendy could see what it would look like in the morning! Erin ran once from Hoquiam over to David¢s on Morgan Street and when she got there Grandpa was there, waiting outside for her and he said, ¢Oh Dolly, you¢re all sweaty!¢ Dan remembers his great big laugh ¢ he never lost his sense of humor. Jenn and Andrea remember the song "Bill Grogan¢s Goat". Everyone remembers swinging around in the backyard, and grandpa getting out the bikes so everyone could ride. He was great with foot rubs and would say, ¢Who rubbed your feet last year?¢Emerson and Alice met in 1940 and were married on June 13, 1941. They have been devoted to each other for 62 years and mom¢s careful and loving care of dad was particularly evident these last few months when he was in the rest home. Poignant memories etched in our minds forever will be mom combing his hair even in his hospital bed and dad wheeling himself down to the telephone in the lobby and phoning mom, saying, ¢Hey, do you remember that Emerson guy?¢From his early years Emerson was devoted to God and to his church. He gave his heart to the Lord at an early age. Everyone who knew Emerson recognized his convictions ¢ he was not ashamed to let people know he was a Christian. Though he struggled with the relationship between faith and the effects of disease and age his confidence was strengthened often by visits from brother-in-law Newt Rasor who reminded him almost daily of God¢s love and care. We could never express enough gratitude to Newt and Margaret Rasor and Berdine and Win Roy for all of their support of Alice and Emerson in visiting the rest home. No one wanted to live as much as Emerson did. Maybe that¢s why he lingered so long, even through this last week. About 3 years ago he had treatment for cancer in Seattle and in the third week of the treatment he fell and broke his hip. That began a series of stays between home and rest home. During the last 9 months Emerson became a favorite at the Grays Harbor Health and Rehabilitation Center. We appreciate so much the care given him by a host of nurses and aides. But his greatest desire was to go home. However,144 Chenault would have been temporary at best. We¢ve got good news: ¢But I would not have you ignorant concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. . . The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.Wherefore, comfort one another with these words.¢               ¢ 1 Thessalonians 4: 13-18Here¢s to you Dad -- we¢ll see you there!