Scott RIP

It was a terribly sad past few months and especially with the recent passing of my brother-in-law Scott. It was only about a year ago that Scott and Rita sold there home in Pennsylvania and moved to Sarasota, Florida to spend their retirement years together. Then both Scott and Rita had serious health problems. We were all worried about Rita but then it turned out that Scott's issues were being caused by terminal cancer. One of the hard parts of this situation was there living in Florida where they could not get all of the family support that everyone wanted to give them. Fortunately Scott's niece Wendy was able to go down to Florida and spent a month with her Uncle Scott taking care of many of his medical needs.

Rita ended up in the hospital for back surgeries and then an extended time in a rehab facility while Scott was undergoing cancer treatment in a area cancer center. Through May and June they were both struggling with health issues. However, by mid July Scott was in a hospice receiving comfort measures and two days later he passed away.

Eventually Rita was able to move up to an assisted care facility in Harleysville PA arranged by Scott's niece and the rest of the family were finally able to spend some time with her. The memorial service for Scott was arranged by people he worked with in Lancaster PA and scheduled for September 28th at a community park across the street from the offices where he had worked. 

Scott had been in the family a long time. He and Rita were married in 1980 a few months before Becky and I got married. I first me Scott in 1978 when he was working as a bartender at the Harleysville Hotel which was the same place our brother Tom had worked at one time. I went there to check out the guy who was seeing my little sister. Becky and I moved to Buffalo the following year.

Over the years we would see Rita and Scott whenever we came down to Philly to visit which was at least twice a year. They always made sure they were around and stopped by to see us. During those years we stayed with Betsy in Red Hill and then later on Mill Hill Rd. Rita and Scott also lived in Red Hill for a number of years before moving out to Barto. We did need to be careful about not talking politics or certain social issues because he did have a very conservative streak especially about guns, race and a few other things but that happens in every family. We always had plenty of other things to talk about.

In recent years Scott got a job in Lancaster and they moved out there. We didn't see them quite so much anymore because they lived an hour and a half away instead of a few minutes. He was always a great guy, fun to be with and always seemed like he really enjoyed being with our family that he was a special part of for over forty years.