In Memory

Scott McDonald

Scott McDonald

Alan Scott McDonald   

   

 June 9, 1948 - September 7, 2021

Alan Scott McDonald passed away suddenly on Tuesday, September 7 after 73 years of life mostly lived his way.

Born June 9, 1948 in Salt Lake City, Scott became the ultimate old hippie guy, growing wiser and more loving through the years. Scott lived in Cave Creek, AZ and enjoyed painting, sign painting, refurbishing his mobile home (former milk delivery truck), road trips, visiting friends and spending solitude in his small studio where he wrote and painted and played his guitar. Scott was a kind and caring soul. He very much needed to be free.

Scott was preceded in death by his parents, Don and LaRae McDonald, and leaves behind his siblings Joanne (Rodger), Mark (Lani) and Todd (Bekha) along with many adoring nieces, nephews, grand nieces and grand nephews.

Virginia loved him too. Goodbye big brother.

Published by The Salt Lake Tribune from Sep. 30 to Oct. 3, 2021

In Scott's own words:  "After graduation (a ceremony I skipped out on because our band had a gig downtown) I soon realized that the world of bands and concerts weren't for me , I enlisted in the navy , and spent three years, nine months and twenty-eight days as a jet mechanic in a submarine patrol squadron stationed in Hawaii which did six month deployments to places such as the Aleutian islands, Okinawa, Philippines and Vietnam .
During that time , I was informally commissioned by the various flight crews (twelve in all) to design and paint custom crew emblems on the nose gear flaps of their planes - nothing comparable to WW2 bomber art , but oh well !
This is where I first realized that lettering was my forte' , which charted the course of the rest of my life as a sign painter (though I didn't realize it at the time) !
By the time of my discharge from the military , I had some definite ideas of what I wanted in my life ,( and what I didn't) distilled down to one simple priority - personal freedom !
First on the list was , no suits or haircuts ever imposed on me to qualify for a job!
I found that if I pursued lettering (and signs were everywhere) I could be free to move around anywhere in the country and paint , establishing my autonomy and facilitating the freedom I needed .
So for the next ten or fifteen years , I worked in sign shops in Utah , California, Oregon and Arizona - always sub-contracting my labor and skipping W2 forms by employers !
That evolved into converting various step vans (and a bus) over the years, into living quarters which would advertise my lettering as I moved around the West painting signs and camping out on BLM land in between cities and towns, associating with the constant moving population of nomadic wanderers .
This may sound like a contradiction , but other things became apparent in defining freedom to me  - I've never had a bank account , credit card , mortgage ,been in debt or owned property  , which I think in reality , owns you - not to get too philosophical !
My life hasn't always been one of constant movement, which can be pretty tiring without a break .
I lived outside of Santa Fe for six months or so ,but hovered around New Mexico a few years, then stayed in Bisbee, Arizona for ten years before hitting the road again .
Bisbee contains the largest body of my work , where I still add a piece there ,now and then , and it remains my official residence although I've moved back and forth from there over the past years .
Things have changed though in my "sign life" - the computer has taken over the sign craft and the industry was left wide open to people who never picked up a brush , and truth be told , I have become a relic in my own lifetime .
At the age we are though, it seems fitting that "relic" would have to play into it somehow , don't you think ?
I remain a secular monastic on a spirit path enjoying my primary gift, which is "freedom from want" in the abundance of simplicity augmented by an old flip-phone and a lap top !



 
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10/05/21 08:32 AM #1    

Jack A. McDonald

Scott and I always pretended to be cousins.  He lived close by my dear friend LaNae Kearns.  I loved reading his own "life history."  Scott alway sought freedom in this life.  Now he has freedom from this life.  See you on the other side cousin.


10/07/21 08:38 AM #2    

William W. Pace (Parkinson)

What a cool life. Yes lived the hippie ideal. I only knew a few who were able to pull it off. Mama Eddie, and Grant Findley, Many tried and mostfailed. I wish I could of stayed in touch after Skyline. Best wishes. Bill Pace Parkinson. 66

10/19/21 12:05 PM #3    

Raymond Fugit

I communicated with Scott a few times about off road adventures and hoped I could catch him some time to show me the cool secret places in Arizona. The years move too quickly and we all get old.

His life was the stuff of Novels, Movies, and art collectors never realized. I'm saddened by hispassing.


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