[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 67 (Monday, April 22, 2019)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E481]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       HONORING MARILEE K. SCAFF

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. JUDY CHU

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, April 22, 2019

  Ms. JUDY CHU of California. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the 
life of Marilee K. Scaff, who passed away on March 8th, 2019 at the age 
of 103. Ms. Scaff was an active member of the Claremont community for 
nearly 70 years and her passion for public service, education, and the 
outdoors will leave a positive impact for years to come.
  Marilee Scaff was born in San Marcos, Texas, on November 27th, 1915. 
As her father worked on the Southern Pacific Railroad, her family lived 
in several communities across the southwest, instilling in her an early 
love of nature. She eventually settled in Austin for college on a Girl 
Scouts scholarship, setting her sights on a sociology degree, and later 
graduate degrees in American history and educational psychology. Dr. 
Scaff's passion for learning and education would play an ongoing role 
in her life, as she taught at El Roble Intermediate School in my 
district, held faculty positions at the University of Iowa and the 
University of North Carolina at Greensboro, acted as First Chair of the 
Clinebell Counseling Center at Claremont School of Theology, and served 
twice on the Claremont Board of Education. Dr. Scaff also travelled 
broadly, serving as a missionary in the Philippines with her husband, 
Alvin, beginning in 1940. She returned to teach there 40 years later, 
after living in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for several years in the 
interim.
  The Scaffs lived in Claremont periodically beginning in the 1960s. 
Ms. Scaff was an active member of the Claremont United Church of 
Christ, where she established the nursery school, the Claremont and Los 
Angeles Leagues of Women Voters, and a founding member of the United 
Nations Association. She was closely involved with the Rancho Santa Ana 
Botanic Garden through the end of her life, where she gave tours and 
taught school children about local wildlife. It was this same 
enthusiasm that she brought to community efforts to save the Thompson 
Creek Spreading Grounds in Claremont, as well as other sustainability 
measures, making her the city's resident expert on water issues. When a 
ballot measure to allow Claremont to acquire their own water system was 
placed on the ballot in 2014, Dr. Scaff, who was 99 years old at the 
time, was chosen to lead the campaign effort, bringing that measure to 
victory by a 71 percent margin.
  Marilee Scaff was an integral member of the Claremont community for 
more than half a century, and because of tireless dedication to service 
and working towards a better community for all of us, I was honored to 
recognize her as our 2015 Woman of Distinction for the City of 
Claremont. She will be missed by her three children, five 
grandchildren, six great-grandchildren, and the entire community she 
loved so dearly, but her legacy will be felt for years to come.

                          ____________________