This story was originally published in the Oct. 28 issue of the Community Voice newspaper. To get the latest local news and sports, call 270-384-9454 for you subscription.
At the age of 90, Kenneth Scott had lived a full life, and he was going strong until his final day. His last days and weeks included farm work, time on the lake with family, and warm conversations with an abundance of friends.
Scott died Saturday during an accident doing what he loved to do – working on his farm near Edmonton Rd., just west of the Columbia city limits.
He was driving a Ranger UTV and had been spraying a fence row when the vehicle flipped and ended his life. Local emergency services were called when a pilot was preparing to land at the local airport and spotted the overturned utility vehicle. Scott was dead when they arrived on the scene.
Scott was a Korean War veteran, receiving a Purple Heart and an Infantry Combat medal for his time in the Army. He worked in the grocery business and worked his way up to become vice president of operations for Houchens Industries in Bowling Green.
When he retired and returned to Columbia, Scott became involved in the local VFW and served as post com- mander and quartermaster.
Ronnie Holt, Senior Vice Commander at Post 6097 in Columbia, recalls the day he met Scott. Holt was invited by a niece to attend a Veterans Day event and he met Scott there for the first time.
“He looked at a badge on my uniform and knew I was an ex-drill sergeant, and he said, ‘You are the man we need to run this Honor Guard.’ He said, ‘Can you march these guys up through there and give them some basic movements,’ and I said, ‘I sure can,’” Holt said. “From that day on we hit it off and I joined the VFW and I got involved in the Honor Guard.”
That Honor Guard will pay tribute to Scott when he is laid to rest tomorrow. They will need to be at their top performance, because Scott believed the Honor Guard should do things the way they are done in the military.
“He believed in good order, he believed in discipline; there was a right way to do things,” Holt said. “When he wore his uniform, it was put together correctly. Kenneth was a soldier until the day he was gone.”
Scott was known as the “Mayor of Bliss” and was a regular at the Clubhouse Grill in Gradyville.
“He’s as good as they come,” said Chris Reeder. Scott was Reeder’s great uncle. “Everybody out through there knew him and liked him. He was 90 years old out spraying a fence row. He had cancer a few years ago, and was pretty sick, but he come out of it bigger and stronger.”
“He was good people. We need more like him,” Reeder added.
By Sharon Burton
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