Scott, Sally Jo (Nelson) 1952-2010
SCOTT, NELSON, HARMS, SCHINLEBER
Posted By: Joy Moore (email)
Date: 11/29/2012 at 09:43:56
Sally J. Scott, age 57, of Decorah, Iowa, died from ovarian cancer on Saturday, November 13th, 2010 surrounded by those she loved at her home.
Memorial Services will be held at 11:00 A.M. Saturday, November 20, 2010 at First United Methodist Church in Decorah with Rev. John Caldwell officiating.
Visitation will be from 4:00-7:00 P.M. Friday, November 19 at Fjelstul Funeral Home in Decorah and on Saturday one hour before the service at the church.
Sally Jo (Nelson) Scott was born on December 16, 1952 in Chicago, Illinois to Herb and Myrtle (Harms) Nelson. Sally was the middle child, with older brother Richard and younger brother Scott. Sally was a good student. Herb and Myrt believed in self-improvement, so Sally took dance lessons, piano lessons, elocution lessons, speed-reading lessons and participated in band, church youth group and Girl Scouts. She graduated from Morgan Park High School as salutatorian in 1970.
Sally attended Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois for 2 years and graduated from Portland State University (Oregon) in 1974 with a bachelor’s degree in French. In Portland Sally was finally in the right place at the right time and became engaged to Paul (Schinleber) Scott. They married on September 14, 1974 in Chicago, IL.
Sally and Paul spent two years in Port Washington, WI, then moved to La Crosse, WI. Sally worked as a bank bookkeeper, church secretary and stained glass artisan. She then realized that her French degree was not the key to a career, so she went back to school, getting a degree in computer science at UW-La Crosse. In 1980, son David was born. In 1983, Paul moved the family to Mauston, WI, where he had purchased WRJC Radio. In February 1984, son Jeffrey made his entrance into the world. Sally spent the next year and a half being a mommy and doing bookkeeping for WRJC.
After visiting Decorah for a canoe trip, Sally asked Paul why he couldn’t buy a radio station in a nice town like Decorah. Because of some luck and Paul’s hard work, they bought KDEC Radio in 1985 and moved to Decorah. For several years Sally worked at KDEC as traffic manager, secretary and even as a disc jockey! Thanks to more hard work by Paul to make the radio station a success, Sally was able to leave the radio station in 1988 to teach computer science at Luther College for one year. The next year Sally worked as a computer tech at Computer Systems Plus.
In 1997, after selling KDEC Radio, Sally and Paul purchased CSP from Greg Marten and renamed it “Scott Computers & Printing.”
In 1998, Sally’s longtime dream of having three sons became a reality when Matthew Nelson joined the Scott family.
In 2002, when youngest son Jeff left for college, Sally successfully avoided empty nest syndrome by taking a new position as IT Director at Decorah Bank & Trust. Sally greatly enjoyed the work, her co-workers and her great bosses at the bank.
Sally enjoyed reading, sewing, traveling and once-in-a-blue-moon playing organ for worship at the First United Methodist Church in Decorah. She felt her greatest accomplishments are her three sons, David, Matt and Jeff. She felt her greatest blessing was the unfailing love of her husband, Paul.
She was preceded in death by her mother Myrtle Nelson.
Sally is survived by her husband, Paul; three sons: David Scott of Boston, MA, Matt (Lisa) Nelson of Des Moines, IA, Jeff Scott (fiancée Kate Jensen) of Decorah; her father, Herbert Nelson of Champaign, IL; and by two brothers, Richard (Diane) Nelson of Champaign, IL and Scott (Alice) Nelson of Mahomet, IL.
Sally’s wish was to receive no flowers or mementos after her death. If you wish, please make a contribution to your favorite charity on Sally’s behalf, or to either the Decorah Community School District Foundation or to the American Cancer Society.
Source: Fjelstul Funeral Home database
Winneshiek Obituaries maintained by Jeff Getchell.
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