Charles Edwin Scott

Charles Edwin “Ed” Scott of Wahpeton, ND, passed away peacefully at St. Catherine’s Living Center on Thursday, December 1, 2022. He was 100 years old. A funeral Mass will be held on December 9, 2022, at 11:00AM at St. John’s Catholic Church in Wahpeton, with Fr. Dale Lagodinski officiating. Burial will be held at Fairview Cemetery and Memorial Gardens in Wahpeton at a later date. Arrangements have been entrusted to Vertin-Munson Funeral Home, Wahpeton, ND.          

Ed was born in 1922 in Nebraska to Charles Maurice and Louie (Shore) Scott. He moved with his family to Minneapolis, MN, Ft. Dodge, IA, Des Moines, IA, back to Ft. Dodge, La Crosse, WI, and finally to Winona, MN. He graduated from Winona High School and started college in Winona.

After World War II broke out, Ed left college and enlisted in the Naval Air Force. He switched to the Army Air Corps in 1943 to finish his military career as an Air Navigation instructor. He took an honorary discharge in 1945 and started college again at General Motors Institute, Flint, MI. On April 21, 1948, Ed was united in marriage with Patricia (Pat) Jean Jordan at the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Winona, MN. They moved to Saginaw, MI, so Ed could finish his junior year in college and continue working for General Motors. They left Michigan at the end of his junior year and returned to Minneapolis to continue his education at the Minnesota School of Business and worked for JCPenney part time.

Ed worked for JCPenney in Minneapolis from September 1949 until March of 1952. During that time, they welcomed their first two boys, Chuck and Ed, into their family. Pat and Ed moved to Spencer, IA, in 1952 where their daughter, Janet and son, Mark were born. They lived in Spencer until January 1959. During that time, he worked in four JCPenney stores, setting up the first of the self-service stores. In January 1959, the family moved to New Rockford, ND, and then moved Oakes, ND, in August of 1959. Following two years in Oakes, Ed was transferred to Ely, MN, for three years. In August 1964, he was transferred to Wahpeton, ND, and asked to stay in that store until his children could all finish high school. Ed stayed with the JCPenney store in Wahpeton until his retirement in 1982. Upon his retirement, Ed and Pat enjoyed their summers at their home on Star Lake in Otter Tail County, MN, and spent many winters with their friends in Phoenix, AZ.      

Ed was President of the Chamber of Commerce in Spencer and active in the Boy Scouts of America in Oakes and Ely. He was president of the ND State Retail association, active on the Wahpeton Park Board, the St. Francis Hospital Board, president of Kiwanis, and president of the local retail association. Ed was also a very active member of St. John’s Catholic Church and the Wahpeton Swim Club.          

Ed is survived by his wife of 74 years, Pat Scott, Wahpeton; his children, Ed (Bonnie) Scott, Billings, MT, Janet (Jon Silverman) Scott, Minneapolis, MN, and Mark Scott, Fargo, ND; his daughter-in-law, Gladys Scott, Freeport, NY, and her children Kelly and Nicole; his
grandchildren, Kelly Scott, Michael Scott, Matthew (Nicole) Scott, Anna Silverman, and Libby Silverman; great-grandchildren, Olivia and Griffen Scott.    

He was preceded in death by his parents, Charles Maurice and Louie Scott; his son, Charles Patrick Scott; and his sister, Betty Scott Welch and her husband Burt Welch.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to St. John’s Catholic Church in Wahpeton.