CHAPTER CHATTER
The Official Newsletter of the
Shenandoah Valley Chapter #313
Korean War Veterans Association
MEMBER'S MOM'S PROFILE
Pearl Scott, Mother of Bill Scott
Pearl Scott
All mothers are remarkable. Mine is no exception. My mother, Pearl Carter Scott, was born in 1915 and raised in Marlow, OK, which is near the Chisolm Trail. She was 1/2 Chickasaw Indian. Her mother (my grandmother) was a full-blood Chickasaw and her father was a well-to-do businessman who became blinded in his early life due to a farm accident. Regardless of his blindness, he became a highly recognized business man who at one time owned as many homes and farms as he was old. Pearl was adventuresome by nature; she learned to drive a car at age 11 to chauffer her father on his local business trips as time permitted. One day, in the late 1920's, the famed aviator Wiley Post landed his plane in a field near Marlow to visit his brother who lived across the street from my grandparents. Post became my grandfather's close friend. He taught Pearl how to be a pilot and she became the youngest person ever to fly solo (at the age of 12) and the youngest licensed pilot in
America. This honor may still be on the books.
By age 14, she was performing as a barnstormer, and working as a commercial pilot as time permitted. Her private plane clients were often business hotshots and oil barons.
The Chickasaw Nation hired a writer to write her biography in 2007. The book is entitled "Never Give Up". A short time later, the Chickasaw Nation produced a film about the young life of Pearl. The movie is set between the years 1920 to 1932. My sons (Bryan and Brad) and I were fortunate to have had a small role in the highly-rated movie.
After marrying and having her first child, Pear retired from the cockpit to raise three children, Lousie, Bill and Carter. Int the 1970's, she became one of the first community health representatives for the Chickasaw Nation. Later, in 2933, shw was the first woman elected to the Chickasaw Nation Tribal Legislature.
She loved her precious Chickasaw Nation and gave tirelessly providing time and assistance while helping her fellow Chickasaws. Just like she loved her Chickasaw Nation she loved her Marlow. She often referred to her hometown as Marlow, USA.
Pearl was inducted into the Oklahoma Aviation and Space Hall of Fame in 1995 and the Chickasaw Nation Hall of Fame that same year. She was also a charter member of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian.
Her portrait hangs in the Oklahoma State Capitol along with portraits of the State's many other outstanding and celebrated citizens.
(This article was submitted by Pearl's justly proud son, Bill Scott.)
"America will never be destroyed
from the outside.
If we falter and lose our freedom,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Abraham Lincoln