Obituary of Marjorie Laurie Scott

Scott, Marjorie Laurie- Born February 28, 1930 in New Glasgow to the late Allen Wyndham Weir and Marjorie Miller(MacQueen)Weir. Predeceased by her husband and life partner in every sense of the phrase, Ralph Aldon Scott in 2005, siblings Elizabeth (Betty) MacNeil, John and Donald Weir, Winnie Robson, Katherine Weir. She is survived by her children: Marjorie(Charles)Taylor, Centreville; John Scott, Pine tree; Alison Scott(Dale Dunlop), St. Margaret’s Bay; Lauchie(Linda)Scott, Thorburn; her grandchildren; Michael Taylor, Centreville; Dr. Lauchie Scott(Rebecca), Kanata; and Rachel Taylor, Bedford; her great-grandchildren; Padraig and Tiernan Wood and Myla Scott, many nieces and nephews but predeceased by nephew Dr. Charles MacNeil. A special thank you to her nieces Marjorie Mitchell and Nina Clarke for their many kindnesses over the years. Thanks to the kind and caring nursing and homecare provided by the Continuing Care Team and the VON. She had a very happy growing up. The youngest of six, her early years were spent on her parent’s farm, in and out of the family’s barns, saw mill and the grist mill at her father’s heels, over fields and through the nearby woods, observing and learning. Her happy, calm world was shattered however when her oldest brother John was killed in France in WWII. Her mother died shortly thereafter, “of a broken heart” Mom always said. She was just 16. Her early formal education began in a rural one room school, built by her grandfather, where she, her father before her (and later we) attended school. She boarded in town to attend New Glasgow High School. She graduated second or third in her class. She claimed it would have been a first but math was never her strong suit. She then attended Boston General School of Nursing. She did not finish when a certain guy named Ralph Scott came into her life. Living in Boston, even for that short period of time, made an indelible impression upon her, contributing to her world view of life and people. Mom was a descendent of some of the early Scots to arrive in Pictou County in 1778, and the sense Scottish clannishness, commitment to community and the value of education were present in her life to the end. It seemed she was related to half the county, with cousins, aunts and uncles almost everywhere. Her sister Betty was the best friend she ever had, her brother Donald, who lived across the road, was a childhood champion and remained an almost daily touchstone throughout her life. After marriage in 1950, she worked hard at being a good wife and mother while helping dad with the business in the days long before cell phones and computers. She did return to her education, taking a commercial course to formalize skills she had been practicing for some time. She worked for a time with the Canada Unemployment Insurance Office, as it was then called. Her time would eventually serve her well as she was, for a number of years in the 1990’S, the chair of the NS Northern Region Employment Insurance Appeal Board. The highlight of her continuing education was however the extension literature courses from St FXU. Creative writing with Sheldon Currie was her very favorite. After family, literature and learning were the true passions of her life. Her favorite Christmas present when young, was the new book she received every year. Early memories of our mother are of her reading to us. Sure, there were the usual children’s stories at bedtime, but also poetry and novels. And after lunch, with 3 or all 4 of us draped around her neck, across her lap, or in the near vicinity, she would pick up an anthology of English poetry and read aloud the ballads, odes and epics of literature, or passages from whatever tome she was reading. Some of those poems we can still recite today, some 60 plus years later. She believed that contributing to community life was what made a place of community. While she organized and served on the local school PTAs and in the Sutherland’s River Presbyterian Church, she contributed to her community by participating in politics, with not just a sense of duty but enthusiasm. She accompanied her father to her first political meeting at twelve. By about age 16, when her father could not any longer attend political meetings, he sent her in his place instead to keep him abreast of the goings on. Thus began a long and devoted career with the Progressive Conservative Party. She served in many capacities, campaigning, running or working in campaign headquarters in countless provincial and federal elections. She was the Pictou East Constituency President for the late Premier Donald Cameron. She bore political victories and defeat as a typical presbyterian. Victories were sober and quiet, but in defeat, she would put on a still upper lip and take her frustrations out scrubbing and waxing floors and generally re-ordering the house. Hard work was after all her prescribed antidote for just about any and all life’s disappointments, the presbyterian way in fact. Her final years were not easy as sight and mobility deserted her, but ever resourceful, refusing to give in to her emerging limitations, she turned to audio books. She listened to whatever she could, history, biographies, university lecture series on just about anything and of course, poetry, literature and political science. We, her children will miss her immeasurably, her love and devotion to us, her story telling, the oral traditions of our family’s history. To our brother John, the rest of owe a great debt of gratitude for the extraordinary care you provided that kept mom at home in Pine tree, affording her the dignity she needed to die in peace. By request cremation has taken place. There will be no funeral. No flowers please, but a donation to the Sutherland’s River Presbyterian Church, the Pictou County VON or to the Pictou County Food bank would be appreciated. angusfuneralhomes.com