I want to share just a little about Scott's life with you, yet it's so hard to know where to begin. How can you tell others about someone so wonderful, in a way that allows those who didn't know him to grasp even a bit of whom he was? Let me just start by saying that if you had met Scott, he would have brought a smile to your face and you'd be happy that you had the chance to know him.

Scott began life as one of those happy babies who is truly a joy to have around. He almost always awoke with a smile on his face, and he kept that smile till the day he died. As a child, he was always full of cute little antics and there was never a dull moment in our home with him around. I'll never forget the time when Scott was about four and I awoke to find that one of my plants had been fed Raisin Bran and milk. Scott had overheard me talking to my mother about my sickly plant, and she had advised me to feed it. So there he was looking up at me, as proud as could be, and saying, "I feeded your plant."

I don't think I'll ever think of cheeks as anything but corners again, as this was what Scott called them from the time he could talk. He was always wanting to kiss your "corners." He was always very creative, expressive and artistic. He loved pansies and to him they were always "little kids with dirty faces." Scott wasn't one to take life or himself too seriously and seemed to have a real knack for seeing the lighter side of things. He figured life was for having fun and that's exactly what he did! As most teenagers are, he was a real junkfoodaholic. Among his favorites were, chocolate milk, beef jerky, my gingerbread and his grandma's chocolate pies. Oddly enough, Scott's last Meal consisted of beef jerky and chocolate milk. Scott's first full sentence, at the age of one and a half was, "I want a ‘hammer burger,' french fries and a coke." Hmm, I wonder if we spent too much time at the fast food restaurants? I just know there's at least one fast food chain in heaven, and that Scott owns it!

Scott always had a great love for animals and they loved him as well. His first cat was a black and white stray that he named Algaebone. I don't have a clue where he came up with that name, but I told you he was creative. Of course, we shortened her name to Algae. I'll never forget when Scott was five and we came home to find that Algae had made dinner for herself. Her main course was a blue parakeet and she had eaten every last bite. It took me a long time to look at poor Algae without thinking about the fact that she'd eaten our bird.

I have a picture of Scott at fourteen, and in the photograph he's stooped down with a duck eating from his hand. This is one of my favorite pictures of him, as it reminds me of how unafraid and trusting animals always were of him. When Scott was fourteen, he found an injured bird outside and cared for it, after which he went to great lengths to get it to a wildlife rehabilitation center. I think this says a lot about the kind of kid Scott was. He was always happy and willing to help out a friend, or even a stranger for that matter. Yet he always seemed concerned with "being a bother" to others when he was in need. He was generous to a fault, and I fear that in the end he was greatly taken advantage of.

When Scott was age thirteen, I decided to pursue a college degree. He could always be trusted and relied upon to watch after his eight-year-old brother while I was attending evening classes. I could count on Scott to reheat or prepare the simple meals I planned for them on those evenings. He always made sure they were both settled down and ready for bed when I arrived home from school.

As a teenager Scott was interested in the typical teenage boy things, which included girls, skateboarding, cars and spending time playing basketball, football or at the batting cages. He was also into paintball guns and he loved that awful (not my taste) rap music. He loved playing Nintendo and watching movies. Scott was very proud of the truck he had finally managed to buy, just before he was killed, at the age of seventeen. Sounds like your typical teenage boy, eh? Typical, but maybe just a little too trusting. I suppose his greatest fault was in assuming that others were as loyal and trustworthy a friend as himself. I won't go into the events surrounding his death here but will include a link to that story on this page. Scott should have had many more years in which to live his life and fully become the person he was meant to be.

As Scott's twenty-fifth birthday approaches, I can't help wondering so many things: Would he be married and if so, to whom? Would he have children, and if so, how many, and would they be boys or girls? Would they look like him? What would he be doing for work and where would he live? How would he and his younger brother relate to each other as adults? I can't help but think of things that should have been, but will never be, and all because of a senseless and foolish act. Yes, two depraved minds and one senseless act. In an instant we were all robbed of a son, brother, grandson, nephew, friend. In making this page, we can at least keep his memory alive by sharing with others a little about whom he was. We love you, Scott, and we'll never stop missing you.

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