Theodore Merle Scott

“He Who Marches Out Of Step Hears Another Drum” Theodore M. Scott, 95, died May 14, 2015 from complications following a fire. Born March 27, 1920 to Gertrude Mackenzie at the Salvation Army Baby home in Portland, he was adopted by Merle and Marie Scott and taken to Scotts Mills, a community founded by his adoptive ancestors. He spent much of his childhood in Culp Creek, while his father fought to keep Scott Lumber Company solvent during the Great Depression. Ted attended Wildwood Elementary in Culp Creek and later boarded at Cottage Grove High, traveling home on weekends. In 1938, Ted drove the Model A Ford he’d rebuilt to Linfield College, where he played football, ran the half-mile, graduated in philosophy and religion and married Marilynn Inez Stewart, his wife for the next 53 years. He described her as a ‘cute brain’ and the best debater the college had seen. Ted, however, was no debater; as a matter of fact, he rarely talked, but he remained a philosopher throughout life—while serving in the Air Force during WWII, supporting his family as a science and math teacher and youth employment councilor. At the core, Ted was an Oregon lumberman and a tinkerer, a third generation sawmiller who lived long enough to become a creature of another century. Ted loved the great trees, not for their indolent beauty, but for the lumber they produced. He would calculate board feet in an uncut stand of trees more easily than most could write a sentence. Yet, more than the trees, Ted loved the machines that took the trees—black, greasy, rusted, every one of them. Ted was the stuff of a Kesey novel: at times moved by some great notion, more often choosing to fly low over the cuckoo’s nest, his soul inspired the Oregon novel, “Celebrate the Sinner.” Although Ted studied religion, his spirituality rose from the world within, and as Kesey noted, “The answer is never the answer. What’s really interesting is the mystery.” Ted’s greatest notion and life-long passion was inventing the rotary engine. In Europe, a similar concept became known as the Wankel and was manufactured by companies, ranging from Rolls Royce to Mazda. In 1942, after submitting his patent application for the design, General Motors invited him to join their research team at age 22, but he declined in order to join the war effort. In 1993, he improved his design with the Scott Roto-torque engine, which improved combustion and decreased pollution. Ted and Marilynn spent their first summer in Alaska in 1959 while Ted studied at the University in Fairbanks. Two years later, they obtained teaching jobs and moved to Anchorage, where they remained until retirement in 1992. When Marilynn died in 1995, Ted returned to Eugene. He married Patricia Chellin of Cottage Grove in 1996, but they later divorced. He remained a ladies man to the end. Ted is survived by three children: Gaynelle Nielsen, Baker City; Stuart Scott, Kingman, Arizona; and Steven Scott, Salt Lake City. He is further survived by six grandchildren: Jami Scott, Steven Joseph Scott, Scott Nielsen, Brittany Scott, Colin Scott, Connor Scott and one great grandchild, Chance Nielsen. Interment will take place at the Crescent Grove Mausoleum in Tigard, next to his wife Marilynn. No formal service is planned. A private family gathering will take place in Culp Creek at the site of the old Scott Lumber Company.