A spark for justice
Remembering Ken Scott
My mentor and friend Ken Scott passed away a few weeks ago.
Ken was the spark that ignited my entire career in housing justice and who helped form the role of service in my life.
Joan, another mentor and friend of mine, hosted a small gathering at the College of Saint Rose’s Interfaith Sanctuary to celebrate Ken’s life. As Joan said last Saturday morning, “We don’t want to be here. We don’t want to be here for this purpose. But there isn’t anywhere else we could be.” Here together, in community, remembering a good man and the mark he left on this world.
I met Ken my freshman year at Saint Rose, after my mom suggested I ask if could fill my work-study hours with him in the Office of Community Service. Lucky for me, he had an open spot and I began my four years of serving as Ken’s work-study student.
Here’s the thing about Ken: when he was in your corner, there were no limits to what you could do. As I get older, I realize what a gift he gave to the hundreds of students whom he worked with. We were 18, 19, 20 years old — filled with dreams, old ideas we thought were new, and so many questions. What a gift Ken gave to not make us feel stupid, or naive, or insignificant. To treat us like the leaders we would become. To model grace, kindness and courage for us. To share his openness, faith, curiosity and sense of adventure with us. To lift us up and believe in our potential.
From the College’s announcement:
"Ken’s mentorship inspired hundreds of alumni now leading their own fierce battles for change. He propelled action on behalf of the marginalized and our planet linking trips and service projects to focused education on issues and the power of social justice advocacy. Today, so many alumni are change makers in the fields of housing, hunger, poverty, education, LGBTQ rights, climate change and the protection of our environment. Their work is Ken’s legacy."
I look back at the photos I posted of the beginning of my Habitat journey. Ken is there. I read my post about the closing of Saint Rose. Ken is there. When I turn over the memories of some of my most formative years, Ken is there.
Ken connected me with our local Habitat for Humanity (surprise, I’m now the head of it), he invited me on my first service trip to build with Habitat, he helped me host social justice movie nights on campus, he let us organize a march to end poverty from campus down to the state capitol, he connected me with the anti-gun violence movement, he invited me into peace work and anti-war vigils, he continued to inspire me through his organizing with GreenFaith and the Poor People’s Campaign… he was the spark.
At the memorial gathering last week, another student recalled how her time in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps had, in keeping with the organization’s unofficial motto “ruined her for life.” JVC volunteers say this to mean that once you open your eyes to the plight of the poor and vulnerable, you can never turn your back on it. The student continued to say that knowing Ken had ruined her for life, because once you see the world through his eyes and know what it means to live with laughter and kindness and justice, you’ll never unsee it or unknow it.
For Ken’s 60th birthday, he went on a 60 mile walk to connect important places in his life, meeting with friends along the way. He called it a “pilgrimage of thanks.” Ken would have turned 70 later this year, just a day after I’ll turn 40. Maybe I’ll embark on my own 40 mile birthday journey, knowing that in a different timeline, he’d join me for a few miles and greet me with a beer at the end.
You can read Ken’s obituary here. If you knew Ken, I’d love to hear any memories or funny stories :) If you didn’t know Ken, tell me about a person who has been a spark in your life.
Updated because I found this selfie from Ken’s retirement party in December 2016 and I love it:
I know that Ken is proud of you, Christine. Clearly his legacy is intact in your capable hands and all the others he touched.
Beautiful tribute. Keep up the good fight in his memory.