Scott Darroch

1951 - 2014

In Memory of

October 8, 1951 -

May 15, 2014

Scott Marlowe Darroch, 62, of Eugene, Oregon, passed away May 15, 2014, at PeaceHealth Medical Center in Eugene. A web designer, writer, and businessperson, Scott had also been a restaurant manager and worked in the antiques business before a spinal cord injury in 1979. Raised in Corvallis, Oregon, he lived all his life in the Willamette Valley and will be remembered with love by many. Scott was preceded in death by his father, Glen, and his mother, Phyllis. He is survived by a brother, Lynn Darroch, of Portland, Oregon.

It is simply true to say that, when Scott died, so did a part of everyone who knew him as a friend and brother.

The first time Scott faced death, by his own description, the voices of his friends called him back from the warm bright light that was pulling him forward -- in the moments following a swimming accident and just before his resuscitation from drowning 35 years ago. He awoke to a neck injury and paralysis from the chest down. It was a permanent condition that did not define him or confine his mind. Yet it was a struggle he acknowledged and a fate he saw not as heroic, but as a tsunami-like cataclysm, to be endured and overcome.

Scott was a big, strong young man who played football, read history, and took to the theatre both on stage and behind the scenes. From early youth on, he dove deeply into a wide variety of interests, from science fiction to fishing to cosmology and physics. He could carry on an informed, intelligent conversation about almost anything and was always up for an adventure, whether in thought or travel to far off places.

Scott's natural skills and breadth of knowledge also made him a formidable advocate for people dealing with severe spinal injuries and other, similar challenges. The core of his philosophy was that so-called rehabilitation should begin with listening to the needs of those people, rather than imposing technological or other solutions from the outside.

Scott was a natural leader, with all the requisite abilities for organizing things and making them happen. Through his business, The Word Mill, Scott helped businesses and individuals with publications and research. He was Co-Founder of Hemp Shield, a wood finish and deck sealer. He coproduced, with the late Candy Moffett, a fantasy-game themed conference held at the University of Oregon in the early 1980s.

Scott spent thousands of hours volunteering for numerous non-profit organizations, including Sacred Heart Hospital's Oregon Rehabilitation Center, The Independent Living Center of Lane County, and The Oregon Brain Injury Association. He received recognition as the Outstanding Volunteer for Service to Lane County, 1989, and an invitation to the White House for his work with Americans with Disabilities Act, July 26, 1994.

Above all, Scott was a loving, giving person who was always ready to help those in need, and a kind, caring, and often-wise friend to many people from many different walks of life. He was also a tough, resourceful survivor who loved life and clung to it through many hardships. He will live on in our thoughts, our feelings, our memories -- and in the light to which he has returned.

A memorial gathering will be held on July 26th at the home of Barry and Ardis Barker.