Scotty’s Dad was the high school band director in Ripley and when Scotty reached high school, his father needed a trombone player so he talked to a friend with a trombone and subsequently drafted Scotty to play trombone in the band. After high school, Scotty spent two years at the Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati where he received a two-year teaching credential. He was sent to an elementary school to conduct the band, but after hearing the kids play The Star Spangled Banner, he aborted his teaching credential and went back to school to become a music performance major.
Scotty met his first wife, Quincy, in San Diego and they were married in 1962. Some of you at Blacklake will remember Quincy, as they shared 40 years of marriage before her death in Nov. 2001. Scotty has two children, Joseph, his stepson whom he adopted at the age of 5, and daughter Elizabeth. With a young family to support, Scotty went to work for Montgomery Ward as a salesman in electronics in San Diego, where he stayed for 20 years before being promoted to District Merchandise Manager in L.A. where he spent another 7 years responsible for 33 stores before resigning and beginning a career in real estate. He has spent another 18 years in Real Estate with Coldwell Banker and is still an active broker with his son and daughter-in-law also working with him. Scotty also has 4 grandchildren.
Throughout his career, music has continued as an avocation for Scotty and he has played with such big band names as Nelson Riddle, Frank Sinatra, Jr., Sammy Davis, Rosemary Clooney, and Bob Crosby and has also played with the San Diego Symphony. He has done a lot of circus and show work with his music and still does, and is currently part of three different jazz bands.
After a year as a widower, Scotty was reading Genesis and when he came across the passage that it is not good for man to live alone, he decided he would like to meet someone. Lo and behold, a real estate agent in the Bass Lake area gave him a referral for a buyer looking for property in Pismo Beach. It turns out the buyer was Janice and when Scotty asked where she would like to meet to look at property, she mentioned she was coming to visit her aunt and uncle at Blacklake who just happened to be Rita and John Eppard, whom Scotty played bridge with every week. (Such a small world, isn’t it?)
Janice was born in El Paso, Texas during the War in the middle of a blackout. The eldest of four girls and daughter of an electrician father and mother who was a butcher, the family moved to San Diego when Janice was two months old. Janice remained in San Diego, going to San Diego State for 2 years after high school and then another year at ITT Technical College, where she learned to customize computer programs for their businesses. Active in sports, Janice was a lifeguard and taught swimming and tennis in La Jolla and snow skiing in Yosemite. She married Fred Graf in 1962 and like Scotty and Quincy, Janice and Fred were married for 40 years with two children, a son and daughter. Their daughter was killed in an auto accident during her senior year in high school and she also lost her husband to an auto accident in March of 2002. While in San Diego, they had a furrier business along with a large vending company and spent a lot of time in property investment in La Jolla, Yosemite, and San Francisco areas, so Janice also has a real estate license. Janice has two grandchildren.
Janice decided after her husband’s death that she wanted to move back to the beach when she retired in another 3 years (she was living in the mountains) and thus the referral that Scotty received. Little did she know that her move would occur much sooner than expected. She and Scotty were engaged in January 2003 and married in July and just recently celebrated their third anniversary. They are pretty sure their paths crossed while in San Diego but never knew it. For example, Scotty’s best friend was Janice and Fred’s travel agent; they attended the symphony where Scotty played, and they belonged to the La Jolla Tennis Club, where Scotty also played.
Turns out they have a lot of interests in common as well. Janice became Scotty’s tennis coach and he her bridge coach. They play tennis five mornings a week and bridge two or three times weekly. In addition, they are both active in their church (St. Pauls), where Scotty facilitates a bible class and both are ministers. But they sing at Grace Bible Church in the choir (they say it is a better choir). One of the granddaughters has recently moved in with them and is attending Hancock College (and will be joining them in the choir – she is a music major).
Scotty and Janice have vowed that, after both having very solid 40 year marriages, they want to repeat that with each other. Scotty will only be 106 and Janice 100 when they achieve their goal.
Something else you may not know – Scotty was one of the original charter members of the Blacklake Gyros; he dropped out later when attendance was a part of the rules and his business activities prevented him from being very active. He and Janice are glad to be back in the Club and we’re glad to have them!
By the way, the painting in the picture with Scotty and Janice is some of Janice’s handiwork – she says it is a portrait of Scotty with his trombone. They are both very talented people.
