Carolyn S. R. B. Scott (1921-2025)

The School of Environmental and Forest Sciences has lost one of its oldest friends, Carolyn Scott. She died peacefully at home on Sunday, February 2, 2025, surrounded by family. She was 103 years old, having joined the campus community with her husband David in 1955. Carolyn was an insightful and inspirational person, and the passing of this amazing woman has left a void in the lives of all who knew her. 

Carolyn Susan Randolph Beardsworth was born November 15, 1921, in Lynchburg, Virginia. Her future husband David R. M. Scott always maintained that he had fallen in love with Carolyn when they were in kindergarten together, though he did not ask her to the movies until high school. Carolyn received a B.A. degree, Phi Beta Kappa, from Randolph-Macon Women’s College in 1942. “My wonderful Latin professor inspired me to choose Latin as a major,” she noted, “but I also loved languages, learning French and Spanish.” (She once mentioned someone assuming that the PBK key on her watchband was David’s—an assumption she promptly corrected.) She hoped to do graduate study in archaeology, but this was precluded by World War II. An excellent writer and editor, Carolyn worked for decades in development and technical writing for educational and medical institutions once her youngest child was in school, and helped several generations of her family with their prose. A true patron of the arts, she loved classical music, ballet, art, and theater, and until recent years also enjoyed gardening and travel.

Carolyn’s death represents a significant loss to the School because she and David had an enduring and profound influence on countless undergrad and graduate students, faculty, staff, and alumni. In 1955, Carolyn and David arrived in Seattle with their twin daughters Victoria and Margaret (1950) and son David (1954). At that time, David joined the faculty of the College of Forestry as the professor of silviculture and forest autecology. Son Iain was born in 1957, and in 1985 graduated from the College of Forest Resources with a B.S. in Forest Management. After “Doc” Scott retired in 1988, former students and alumni worked with Carolyn to establish the David R.M. Scott Endowed Scholarship, which began supporting students in 1994. The scholarship continues to grow and has become a significant funding source for students in the School—supporting 19 different students over the past eight years. Following Professor Scott’s death in 2002, once again former students and alumni worked closely with Carolyn to establish the David R. M. Scott Endowed Professorship. Since its establishment in 2005, three different faculty members have received support. 

These are only two of the many tangible examples of Carolyn’s steadfast commitment to improving the academic well-being of the School and the personal good fortune of its community of scholars. There were subtler ones as well. For example, Professor Scott was one of several faculty who taught summer quarter classes each year at Charles Lathrop Pack Demonstration Forest (30 miles from Mount Rainier). As soon as spring quarter ended and the Seattle Public School System released its charges, the entire Scott family, including David’s English springer spaniels, moved for two-and-a-half months to the cabin closest to the student bunkhouses at Pack Forest. There they spent the summer—with assorted students and prof’s families—running the dogs, shooting skeet, fishing in the Mashel or Nisqually and swimming in Ohop or Clear Lake or at Alder Dam, grilling hot dogs and hamburgers and playing croquet, and hurrying up to the WW II lookout tower atop Pack’s Hugo Peak to catch the “Big Ice Cream Cone” (Mount Rainier) turning pink in the sunset—interspersed with David’s instructing the rising junior undergrads, who grabbed handfuls of salt tablets as they left the Cookhouse to ward off sunstroke from their long hours of hands-on fieldwork in ecology, surveying, and mensuration. Many of Doc’s Ph.D. students also conducted their field research at Pack Forest (e.g., Dobbs, Helms, Hinckley, Hodges, Kinerson, Phillips, Underwood, Woodman). 

Professor Scott was widely recognized for taking both undergrad and graduate students under his wing, which almost always involved Carolyn. She not only assured access to “Doc Scott” but often served as an important counselor herself. As Wendy Helms (the wife of Australian grad student John Helms) wrote to Carolyn in 2022, “On Saturday April 17, 1960 you and Doc Scott had kindly arranged a party to welcome John and me as newly-weds. I’d like to thank you again in retrospect, Carolyn—that warm welcome meant a lot to me after having suddenly left all my friends and relatives on the other side of the Pacific Ocean!” Carolyn and David also hosted quarter- or year-end parties at their Laurelhurst home for Forestry faculty, grad students, and undergrads—convivial gatherings of a bygone era, remembered fondly by many who attended.

Friendship, then, was the through-thread of Carolyn’s 70-year association with UW (1955-2025). It was the basis of her continued engagement with the Forestry School and with the University as a whole, whether as a longtime personal friend to many of us or as a volunteer at the Center for Urban Horticulture or at the UW Retirement Association’s office. She understood the impact David had had, the nature of his expertise, and how these were valued by alumni, and she pushed to have these factors maintained within the curriculum of the School. As former students or friends, we had many ways of engaging with her—small group dinners and visits, or one-on-one conversations. Remarkable for all of us were her spirit, energy, memory, and mental acuity. For most of us, there was at least a two-decade gap in our ages. May we all strive for such a meaningful legacy.

Contributions in honor of Carolyn Scott can be made to the David R. M. Scott Endowed Scholarship, End of Life Washington (EOLWA), or the charity of your choice.

Special thanks to those who made this written remembrance possible, including Carolyn and David Scott’s daughter Victoria and Emeritus Professors Tom Hinckley and Jim Lassoie.