Sally Temple met her future husband in high school but probably didn't realize it and had no idea how many places she would call home in the years to come. Sally and Chuck Scott (RIHS '61) dated in high school. He graduated first and enrolled in the University of Colorado at Boulder. A year later, Sally graduated from Rocky and headed to the University of Illinois. After two years in Colorado, Chuck transferred to the University of Illinois, and he and Sally resumed their relationship. After her junior year, they were married. She had a year of school left, but he would finish up in one semester. Chuck was majoring in aeronautical engineering but changed flight paths when he learned that aeronautical engineers don't turn into pilots. In his last semester at the U of I, he interviewed for aeronautical jobs. Then he came home one day and announced he would join the Navy and fly. He said the Vietnam War would end by the time he completed training, but it didn’t. While Chuck was still in school, he and Sally lived in a small apartment. However, Chuck entered Navy flight training school at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida in April 1966, so for her last semester at U of I, Sally lived in a girls' dorm, "just me and all the coeds," she quips. A few months later, Sally graduated with a bachelor's degree in business education and caught up with Chuck in Florida. The two moved frequently as he continued through flight training school. After Pensacola, they went to Meridian, Mississippi, back to Pensacola, and then to Kingsville, Texas. Chuck began flying F-8 Crusaders (fighter jets) out of San Diego, but due to a training delay, he was first sent to the Naval Justice School in Newport, Rhode Island. Sally, young and naïve, and pregnant with their first child, thought the Navy shouldn't/wouldn't require them to move. Little did she know. Soon she and Chuck were on the move again, this time to Miramar Naval Air Station in San Diego. At first, she thought she would have to carry "calling cards" and wear long, white gloves to social events but was relieved to learn that this was not a must for fighter squadron wives. In 1967, Sally's and Chuck's first child, Katherine, was born. Ironically, one of Chuck's lifelong friends, Larry Shriver, and his wife became parents of a baby girl on the same day. Larry was also following the same course of pilot's training that Chuck was on. Sadly, Larry later died in a plane crash. A little more than a year after Katherine's birth, Chuck was deployed to Vietnam. Larry Shriver's wife took baby Kathy for the night so Sally and Chuck could go to dinner and spend the night alone. The next day, Sally took Kathy down to the dock to say goodbye to Chuck, "just like in the movies." Months later, when Chuck was going to have an "in-port," Sally and other Navy wives met their husbands in Japan and Hong Kong. Sally said Chuck was able to be off the ship most of the time she was there, and - comparing then with now - she notes that she only has one picture of herself in slacks during her visit. The women usually wore skirts. During that visit, Chuck's parents kept Kathy. Although the trip to Japan seemed long, Sally found the country "interesting and very pretty." At one point, she left her wallet behind her. Folks in Tokyo told her not to worry - that she would find it where she left it - and indeed she did. After a week in Japan, the ship went to the Port of Hong Kong, and so did the wives. At a military "Exchange" in Hong Kong, Sally and Chuck bumped into one of Chuck's old school chums from Rock Island, Joe Viernow, who was in the Army. After ten months in Vietnam, Chuck came home, only to prepare to go back. Sally recalls, "He was pretty much gone the whole time we were in San Diego." During his second Vietnam tour, their son, Chuck, was born. The senior Chuck received the message from the Red Cross. Sally remained in San Diego with the other Navy wives waiting for their husbands to return. There were no telephone or email communications. Regular mail took a week or two. After their stint in San Diego, the Scotts were sent back to Kingsville, Texas where Chuck was an instructor. In 1973, he left the Navy and was hired by Continental Airlines. Once again, they packed their bags, this time for Denver. Kathy and little Chuck were five and three, and Sally was a full-time mom. Denver was short lived. Continental was in financial trouble, and Chuck was "furloughed." They moved to Dallas where he went to work for an aerospace firm using his engineering degree. He also flew in the Naval Reserve in Dallas. Sally then decided to make use of the tennis lessons she'd had in high school, so she took up tennis. Chuck was then hired by a Houston company to be their corporate pilot, and they moved to suburban Houston in 1975. Having lived in San Diego, Sally says they "were kind of used to a big city." The area they chose to live in near Houston, however, was very reminiscent of the area in Rock Island where they grew up. Kids were safe to run and play in the woods, go to the school bus stop alone, and trick-or-treat, and they lived there long enough for their kids to attend the same elementary, junior high, and high school. In 1977, the Scott's third child, Susan, was born, and Chuck went back to Continental Airlines. Sally taught Sunday school, was a deacon at their Presbyterian church, and did all the things that stay-at-home moms do. Chuck decided to leave Continental after a strike in 1983, and in 1984 joined Southwest Airlines. A few years later, Sally decided to put her business education to work and accepted a position in the accounting department of a Sports Express store. Conveniently, she wore tennis attire to work and headed straight for the courts afterward. Sports Express, she explains, was ahead of their time with a small catalog business and online business as well. In 2002, Sally and Chuck sold the home they'd lived in for many years and built a hangar home. That is, a hangar that can hold as many as five small planes with a home on the level above. For awhile, Chuck provided pilot services for some of the owners of other planes kept in his hanger. He and Sally have one plane that they fly often, sometimes to another airport for lunch. Chuck calls it "The $100 Hamburger." They also fly to visit friends who reside in other "fly-in" communities.
The three Scott offspring and all of their spouses attended the University of Texas at Austin, and all currently live in the Austin area. Sally often drives there or Chuck flies her into a nearby airport. Recently one of their grandsons had a Veterans Day celebration in his classroom, and Chuck spoke to the class. Older daughter, Katherine, was a flight attendant for Southwest Airlines prior to her marriage. She's now a director at a health club. Her husband, Travis, is in the commercial insurance business, and they have three children, Sally, 16, Mack, 14, and Annakate, 9. Son Chuck, who flew Army helicopters in Afghanistan and Iraq, flies for the Texas Department of Transportation. He also flies jets for the Army and a King Air for the state of Texas. His wife, Chris, is a director of physical therapy at Dell Children's Medical Center, and they are the parents of Charlie, 8, Will, 6, and Caroline, 3. When the younger Chuck was in the Army, Sally and Chuck traveled to Korea and Hawaii to meet up with him. Sally and Chuck's younger daughter, Susan, worked for Enron at one time. She left her job and went to Paris for six months. Recently she worked at AMD, a tech company. Susan's husband, Michael, works for the marketing division of a tech company, and her job now is being a full-time mom to two little boys, Paul, 3, and Scott, 2. Sally continues to play tennis as well as bridge. Having enjoyed sewing for herself over the years, she now only sews for her grandchildren. She and Chuck are seriously looking at moving to Austin since that's where all the kids are and she adds - in a voice that says we should already have guessed it - that Chuck will never give up flying.
Thinking back to high school, Sally recalls happy times with the other cheerleaders and adds that they spent a lot of time together. One of her favorite events was a Rock Island win over Moline at a regional basketball tournament game, and it was also Sally's birthday. She was sick the night before the game and knew she needed to be at school at least half of the next day in order to cheer at the game. When she arrived at school late on game day, her English teacher, Mrs. Walker, said to her, "I know why you're back here in time." The vice principal told her he knew she was to be in detention after school that day, but he would excuse her and added "I do not want to see you at that game tonight," but she was there. Sally plans to attend the 50th reunion next year and would enjoy hearing from friends and classmates at: scott_sally@sbcglobal.net
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