Friday's Internet Edition, July 25, 2008.
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On June 6, 2005, Scott had just returned from Myrtle Beach, where he and his wife Betty had celebrated their wedding anniversary, when he died of a heart attack while mowing his lawn. His unexpected death sent shock waves throughout his large family, his large circle of friends, his church and the company where he worked.
“Elliott was a big guy and seemed healthy as a horse, so it was a surprise to us all and quite a blow,” said Dave Clifford, general manager of the Thomasville plant of Rinker Materials, Concrete Pipe Division, the new name of Hydro Conduit. “He was so well liked that we shut down the plant the day after his death and also closed the plant the day of his funeral.”
One company employee, David McKinney, wrote in an e-mail to Clifford, production supervisor Lee Whitaker, and others saying, “God must have needed a good crane operator, who would report to work every day. Elliott will be missed and I’m sorry for our loss.”
Despite the loss of a popular co-worker, life had to go on at the plant. But the employees needed to do something to deal with their grief and take action to ensure that his four decades of service would be appreciated, not only by his co-workers, but also future employees of the company.
“A lot of our conversation during the period that followed his death was about what we wanted to do to honor Elliott,” Clifford remembered. “He had made this plant tick for many years.”
Eventually, the employees decided to put up a street sign at the entrance to the plant parking lot at Blair Street.
“I don’t know why we came up with Elliott Scott Boulevard instead of Elliott Scott Street, but the important part of it was that we wanted to honor the man,” Clifford said. “He really looked out for the people who worked under him.”
Willie “Bubba” Caldwell was one of Scott’s closest friends at the company. He began working there during the summer of 1968, when it was called Gray Concrete Pipe Co.
“Ever since I’ve known him he was always one great guy,” Caldwell said. “He was like a big brother to me when I started there.”
Eventually Caldwell also became a production lead man like Scott and ended up speaking at Scott’s funeral, which was held at First Missionary Baptist Church.
“Elliott was never mad at anybody,” recalled Whitaker. “I never heard him say anything bad about any one person.”
And no one had anything bad to say about Scott, either.
“I never heard anything negative about him,” said Barbara Manning, the dispatcher at the local Rinker plant. “He was always very dependable and worked hard every day.”
Such work ethic and dependability earned Scott enough money to raise 12 children. He and Betty also had 16 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren at the time of his death.
“I remember when his granddaughter (and adopted daughter) Tierra drew a picture that was good enough to go into our national safety calendar,” Clifford said. “He was really proud of that.”
Needless to say all family members are proud as the ride down Blair Street and see the sign saying “Elliott Scott Boulevard.”
“He put in a lot of years, here and we want people to remember that,” Clifford said. “He had a great attitude, was always smiling and always looked on the bright side of things. He made the best of whatever happened every day.”
Staff writer Kevin Reid can be reached at 472-9500 ext. 230 or reid@tvilletimes.com.