Catherine Frisone Scott

Catherine "Kay" M. Frisone Scott, who turned 105 in September, was born in 1917. Kay earned her bachelor's degree in education in 1938 and her Master of Education in 1939 from Teachers College of Boston. During World War II, Kay took a job as an administrative assistant at the MIT Radiation Lab. There, she met her late husband, Elmer J. Scott, who passed away in his mid-fifties. Kay and Elmer had two sons: Kenneth, who lives in Wooster, Ohio, and John, who died in 1981. In 1958, Kay joined the faculty of Montgomery College, where she taught secretarial studies. Kay retired in 1986 as a professor emerita of business education. She served on the Advisory Board of Housing Unlimited Inc., a Montgomery County non-profit that ensures housing for adults with mental illness. Kay had also been a long-time active member of Cedar Lane UU Congregation in Bethesda, MD, serving on the social justice council and the Board of Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice. Kay was a noted philanthropist who generously supported UMass Boston, Montgomery College, Cedar Lane UU Church, Washington University in St. Louis, and the Smithsonian Institution, among others. In 2000, Kay established the Catherine F. Scott Educational Endowment Fund. In 2013, she made a major commitment to UMass Boston to establish The Catherine Frisone Scott Italian Cultural Studies Fund at the university in memory of her brother John B. Frisone. A Memorial Service will be held at Cedar Lane UU Congregation at 2 pm on Feb.18.