Harold John Scott

My father, Robert Scott was born in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada on November 20, 1922. Dad was a good guy who was a good friend to everyone he knew. His greatest pleasure in life was his family.

My Mother was born in England in 1925. She was a great Mother and just a lot of fun to be around. She was not one to mess with because she would let you know where she stood on the issues. To say she was opinionated would probably be an understatement. She was a lot of fun to be around and Mary and I spent a lot of time traveling with her. We always had a great time.

I had three sisters growing up. My sister Molly was two years younger than me and we never really got along until we were adults. Molly is the kind of person who makes friends easily and has lots of them. My two younger sisters Margaret and Lynn were about 8 and 10 years younger than me so I never really had much in common with them when they were young. As we got older we became good friends and are still friends to this day.

I got married the first time in 1969 and had three daughters, Lise, Lynn and Margaret. We were divorced in 1983 and it made having a normal relationship with my daughters difficult. We have kind of an on and off relationship, but we do keep in touch.

I married Mary in 1985. We have been married for over 40 years and it has been the single greatest thing that ever happened to me. Mary is kind, loving, unassuming, and someone who cares about everyone. She had a daughter, Nicole, from a previous marriage and we had a son Chirs in 1989. We have a great relationship with both our children and with our new two grandchildren from Nicole's marriage.

My uncle John, my father's brother, was a good guy and always treated me well.

I was born in Chicago, IL in 1944. We lived there for about 15 years. We lived in a great neighborhood and I had lots of friends. Our family vacationed in Michigan and Minnesota and we did a lot of camping and fishing. Dad worked for a large investment firm in Chicago and we had a pretty good life there. In 1959 we moved to Kansas City, MO when I was 15. We lived in a very small house with only one bathroom, difficult with three sisters. Dad took a new job with Goodyear Tire and we moved into a larger house with two bathrooms. With three sisters the extra bathroom was a very nice addition. I graduated from Franklin High School in June of 1962 and immediately went to work at a small factory that made auto parts. My job was to pack parts for shipment. My starting pay was $4.00 per hour. In 1967 I was drafted into the US Army and went for training at Fort Benning, GA. I was sent to Fort Riley, KS for my first duty station and trained for the Vietnam War. Part of that training involved going to “Jungle School” in Panama for two weeks. In January 1968 I went to Vietnam as part of the 9th Infantry Division. We often encountered the enemy and I lost several friends over the first few months. On March 6 was involved in a firefight and was shot in the arm. It healed in a couple of months but I couldn't go back to a combat unit. I spent the rest of my Vietnam tour assigned to a helicopter base security unit. On August 19th, 1968 I was flying in a helicopter when we were shot down. I and three others got out to provide security when we were attacked by an enemy unit. The helicopter took off without us and the other three men were killed and I was wounded. I was rescued by a Marine helicopter. The pilot who rescued me, was awarded the Medal of Honor for that action. I was discharged from the Army on December 18th 1968 and applied to go to the University of Kansas on the GI Bill. My major was business and accounting and I graduated with a BS in Business Management in June 1973. I played baseball for the Kansas Jayhawks for about three years. It was a lot of fun traveling around the neighboring states. Unfortunately, I wasn't good enough to become a pro baseball player. I got a job working with Ford Motor Company in Detroit MI in 1973 as an accountant and worked there for the next twelve years. This is where I met my wife Mary who also worked in accounting in June 1976. We dated for almost 10 months before marrying. My starting pay at that time was about $1200 per month. Mary and I were married on March 10, 1977 and had a wonderful home and life in Detroit. Our first two children, Mary and Susan were born in Detroit. John was born in Kansas City, MO. Most of our life during those years was focused on traveling with the kids. We visited many of the national parks, Disneyland, Disneyworld, and even took them to Hawaii for a week in 1984. I changed jobs in 1985 and went to work for Tyson Foods in Kansas City, MO. Finally moved into a job with good pay at about $65,000 per year. I became the chief accountant at Tyson and stayed until I retired in 2016. We moved to Olympia, WA in 2016 to enjoy the oceans and mountains and a life without snow all winter. It rained a lot but life was good. I began a small accounting business that I worked at until I fully retired in 2022. After I retired Mary and I traveled a lot and so we bought a motorhome. We planned to travel around the country but not live in the motorhome full time. We put a lot of miles on our RV traveling to most of the United States and Canada. Much of our travel plans in the next few years will be centered around our children and their children. All in all, we've had a very fortunate life. Bumps in the road like everyone else, but nothing life changing.

Book - Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. This book explains in detail how important it is to be our own person and how bureaucracies can get out of hand. Poem - The Bridge Builder by Will Allen Dromgoole. A poem that shows how important it is to care how you leave the world for those who come after you. Expression - Root, hog or die by my Grandfather. It basically means fend for yourself. Quotes: Never live your life for the sake of another man, nor expect another man to live his life for you.” from the book Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. “Money can’t buy you happiness, but it makes being miserable a lot easier.” John Wayne “Only beaten men walk beaten paths.” Ted Turner. Song - Remember When by Alan Jackson. Great lyrics and wonderful music. Singer - Lionel Richie. Great love songs. Music - Country and Western & Soft Rock. Piano player - Jim Brickman, beautiful music and lyrics. Sports - Boating, fishing, racquetball and golf. Car - My wife’s 1992 Pontiac Firebird with the Corvette Engine. It was fast and fun. Only got one ticket. Boat - My 21’ aluminum sports fishing boat with a 225 HP outboard. Caught a lot of fish from this boat and enjoyed talking it out on big lakes and the ocean. Food - Homemade by my wife. One of our favorite things to do is to have a nice home cooked meal and eat it at our table with candles and good music and look out over our peaceful backyard. Drinks - Craft beer and domestic wine. Movie - Zulu, A story of 130 British soldiers defending against 5,000 zulu warriors in 1896. Games - Scrabble, Bridge, Pinochle and Cribbage Sports and activities I’ve played - High school football and basketball. Hockey, curling, soccer, tennis, racquetball, softball, dirt biking, archery, shooting and golf. Pastime - Working on the computer and watching tennis and golf on TV. To this day I still spend a lot of time on the computer working on our small business venture. Activities - Socializing with friends, fishing, golf and traveling abroad. Subject in school - Science and physics. I’ve always enjoyed the wonders of science and how physics plays a part in every aspect of life. It’s simply fascinating. Subject in college - Accounting. I’ve always enjoyed working with numbers. European Country - France. The French have perfected the art of eating. They are not big on quantity but make up for it in quality. Architecture - I think France has the most beautiful buildings in the world. The churches and museums in France are a must see for anyone who enjoys history and architecture. Asian country - Korea where I taught English to a group of young professionals. The Korean people consider themselves one large family and treat their guests like family. One of the best years of my life because of what I learned about another country and how they value their society. Just great people. Place to vacation - Mexico. We love going to all-inclusive resorts when the drinks and food are plentiful and the service is fantastic. It’s always very relaxing. Favorite vacation venue - Cruise ships. We get to go to many places we might not otherwise see and everything is taken care of. It’s a very anxiety free vacation. Just show up and go.

Wish I had learned to fly an airplane and play the piano. Wish I had more experience being a Dad before I had children. Wish I hadn’t been married the first time when I was so young. I had wonderful parents who made being a family important. Children appreciate far more the things you do with them, than what you do for them. I was fortunate to meet and marry my wife. We became best friends and have both enjoyed a full and rich life together. We are truly a 'happily married' couple. Being in love with someone is wonderful, having them as your best friend is even better. Having children has added a whole new dimension to life. Being able to have them around to visit and travel with has been a wonderful part of life. Having grandchildren has only added to our life experience. Wish I had understood and accepted religion more than I did. I sometimes envy those of faith. I feel very fortunate to have lived in the United States. Despite some of the problems our country has, it’s still the best country on earth. I wish mankind would find a better way to settle their differences than war. War exacts a horrible price on the men who have to fight it and in many ways is even more painful for the women and children who are left behind. One of the most important lessons in life. Always be humble and kind. If I had anything I’d like to pass on, it would be this: Treat other people the way you would like to be treated. The Golden Rule really is important. The world would be a far better place if we all did this. Take responsibility for yourself and your actions and be intellectually honest with yourself and others. Lying to yourself never made any sense to me.