In Memory of Scott MacGregor Mason (1923-2015)
Favorite Quote:
" . . . even the weariest river winds somewhere safe to sea." Gardens of Proserpine by Charles Agernon Swinburne
Scott MacGregor Mason, 91, of Wakefield, R.I., died peacefully on Feb. 1, 2015. He was born in New York City on Feb. 11, 1923, the only child of Gregory Mason and Mary Louise Turner Mason.
Scott was descended from a musical family and played the trumpet as a schoolboy at Phillips Exeter Academy, where he was also an accomplished athlete and equestrian champion. Scott earned his B.S. in Chemistry from Princeton University in 1944 before working for Firestone, where his co-patents helped invent self-healing aircraft materials used in preventing catastrophic failures from gunfire in WW2. Scott enlisted shortly thereafter and served in WW2 as a radio rifleman in the 104th Infantry Division, which saw action in the Ardennes as well as freeing survivors from the horrific Nordhausen camps in 1945.
Following the war, Scott married his first wife Mildred Davidson and settled first in Pound Ridge, NY, then Stonington, CT. Scott worked as a chemist at Warwick Chemical and also taught Chemistry at the Williams School in New London, CT. When the family moved to Providence, R.I., Scott continued to teach Chemistry and chaired the Science Department at Moses Brown School during the 1960s. He was also tennis coach at Moses Brown and played squash at the University Club, where he was a repeat club champion. Scott was honored to be named a lifetime member of the New York Academy of Sciences.
Scott moved to Wakefield, R.I. in 1970 with his second wife Virginia Perkins. Following her death, Scott spent many years with Eloise McConnell, who predeceased him.
Scott maintained a cheerful disposition in his final years and was a charming man about town who made many new friends, several of whom the Mason family thank for their loving efforts in helping him maintain his independence.
Scott is survived by two children, Phoebe L. Brown, and her husband, Ron, of Oklahoma City, OK, and Caleb Mason and his wife, Anne, of Portland, Maine, along with their two children William Lowell Mason of New York City and Sarah Louise Mason of Vinalhaven, Maine. He is predeceased by his first born son Alan Gregory Mason.