Ivan W. Scott

Please accept my sincere condolences at this time of Ivan’s passing.

Since my acquaintance with Ivan began several years before either of us was married, family members will not know me.

Nevertheless I hope my reminiscences may prove to be of interest. Ivan and I were members of a Scout troop that began in 1925. A year or two later we attended a summer camp on a farm near Kilworth close to the “Wishing Well”, a picturesque area where a short stream flowed from a small cave in the rocky embankment over a rock formation resembling a pitcher spout directly down into the Thames River. The story was that if the Indians stood in the river under the waterfall while making a wish that it would be granted. Over the years erosion has altered the site so the stream no longer exists.

In our late teens and early twenties we were both members of a Rover Scout Crew that met in the garage of one one of the member’s parents. Later we moved to more commodious quarters in a large house on Horton St. owned by the P.U.C. courtesy of Mr. E. V. Buchanan who was at the same time Manager of the P.U.C. and Scout Commissioner for London. When war broke out in 1939 the Rover Crew was disbanded, many of the members joining the armed forces. However after the war we got together again as a Rover Crew, meeting in individual homes at first but eventually buying an old railway box car that was set up as a meeting place at the southwest corner of Wharncliffe Rd. and Base Line on a lot owned by the P.U.C. About this time many crew members were married so we disbanded but arranged to have annual reunions mostly at various restaurants. The last of these that I remember was held at a restaurant on the Nairn Road just south of Lobo. One highlight of this encounter that has stuck in my mind was that Ivan soundly trounced me at a few games of chess!

Other memories of teenage years come to mind. One summer in the early thirties. Ivan and I went to a Scout camp on Lake Huron near Grand Bend traveling the economical way on bicycles that didn’t need any gas. We stopped on the way, possibly overnight, at an old Presbyterian Church that had Bibles and hymn books in the Gaelic language. In later years this old church building was moved to Fanshawe Pioneer Village where I believe it still stands. Another more ambitious bicycle trip that we enjoyed together was to attend a Rover Moot on Walpole Island attended by Rovers from many parts of Canada and U.S.A. At that time the road from Sarnia to Walpole was not paved and the motor traffic was bumper to bumper owing to thousand of spectators who had come to see the Harmsworth boat races on the St.Claire River. On our bikes we were able to travel faster between the jumble of cars but oh! the dust was horrible. We had to beat it out of our clothes with a stick until we found a place to swim and put on clean duds.

I also knew Ivan’s brother Vic who married Adelle Taylor. I knew the Taylor family who attended the same church, and at the summer picnics Vic was able to demonstrate his skills as a ballplayer. In 1945 when my wife and I moved to Hyde Park, Vic was the electrician who upgraded the electrical system of the house. I remember that Vic did all the skilled technical work but relegated to me the arduous toil of hammering the ground rod about thirty feet into the ground.

My dear wife, Jewel, went to be with the Lord Jesus Christ in 1997 but i continued to live in the same house until 2009. Now I’m at PeopleCare only about a mile from the old place where I lived for 64 years.

I recall the Scott family home on Elmwood Ave. just east of Wharncliffe. Ivan would have attended Victoria school while I went to Wortley. Even so we had many enjoyable time together. I hope I haven’t bored you with this disjointed account of bygone days that stick in my memory.

Bob McLeod
319a – 1242 Oakcrossing Rd LONDON ON N6H 0G2
[email protected]

PLEASE KNOW THAT DAVID, MYSELF & FAMILIES ARE THINKING OF YOU ALL IN OUR PRAYERS AT YOUR LOSS.
WE MET IVAN WHEN WE WERE KIDS DURING THE WAR IN ENGLAND AFTER HE WAS WOUNDED AND ON LEAVE.
HE PULLED A TRICK ON ME THAT I WILL NEVER FORGET–DURING THE WAR EGGS WERE HARD TO COME BY AND HERE AT BREAKFAST WAS AN EGG FOR ME SITTING IN THE EGG CUP. I WAS DELIGHTED UNTIL I TRIED TO OPEN IT AND FOUND IT EMPTY !! IVAN BEING THE GUEST WAS OF COURSE GIVEN THE ONLY EGG I HAD SEEN IN WEEKS.AFTER WE ALL HAD A GOOD LAUGH BUT IT WAS MANY WEEKS AFTER THAT BEFORE I DID GET AN EGG–ONE FOR IVAN–
IVAN MARRIED MY MOTHERS SISTER NANCY AND WENT BACK TO CANADA WITH HIS WAR BRIDE.
THE NEXT TIME I SAW HIM WAS WHEN HE CAME BACK TO ENGLAND TO SHOOT AT BISLEY FOR HIS REGIMENT.–THAT WAS THE ONLY TIME MY MOTHER LET ME STAY OFF SCHOOL FOR ONE DAY.
I SAW NANCY AND THE CHILDREN WHEN THEY CAME BACK TO ENGLAND FOR A HOLIDAY.
WHEN I CAME TO CANADA IN 1963 IVAN PICKED US UP IN TORONTO AND DROVE US TO LONDON WHERE WE SPENT A COUPLE OF GREAT WEEKS WITH THE FAMILY BEFORE GOING ON TO EDMONTON ALBERTA.

A COUPLE OF VISITS IN EDMONTON AND ONE WHEN I WAS IN OTTAWA WAS THE LAST TIME I WAS ABLE TO SEE THE FAMILY.

ALL OUR ENGLISH EXTENDED FAMILIES THOUGHT THE WORLD OF IVAN AND WE WILL NEVER FORGET HIM.
DON YOUNG