Obituary
Rae Scott

Rae G. Scott
Raleigh, North Carolina
Age 94
Died. 02/06/2025

Rae G. Scott (“Rae”), 94, passed away on Thursday, February 6, 2025 at Transition’s Hospice House in Raleigh, NC. Rae was born to Madge and Harold Guenthner and grew up on their farm in Antigo, Wisconsin. Rae was the oldest of three children.

Rae graduated from Antigo High School and then attended, and graduated from University of Wisconsin at Steven’s Point . After completing her formal education, in 1952, Rae left Wisconsin with her friends to explore the country and settled for awhile in San Diego, California where she worked as an elementary school teacher. While there, she met Whitney Thomas, a young Naval enlisted man from Maine, and on December 31, 1955, the two were married. The Navy then became Rae’s family where she met and made many lifelong friends.

Rae had three children, Victoria Lynn, Tracy Elaine, and David Whitney, with Whit. His duty assignments took Rae to many different stations located in Bethesda, MD, Hawaii, California, Virginia Beach, Naples, Italy and Arlington, VA, along with a brief return to Antigo, Wisconsin during the Vietnam War. During this time Rae and her family made the transition from being an enlisted family to the officer ranks while constantly moving to new duty stations. Rae devoted herself to raising her children, exploring and absorbing the history of every place she lived, visiting museums and enjoying the arts and volunteering with various charities.

When Rae’s marriage to Whit ended in 1984, she was living in Annandale, Va, and she returned to the work force briefly working for a government contractor. A few years later she met John Harold (“John”) Scott, Jr., a retired Navy captain, and the two became fast friends. On January 2, 1997, Rae and John were married, and they spent the next twenty years traveling, visiting family and friends made during a lifetime of Navy service, and exploring and taking in the marvels of the world, including trips to the Great Wall of China, to the pyramids and camel riding in Egypt and kissing the blarney stone in Ireland. When they were not traveling they were spending time with friends, and visiting the various museums in the area, and attending concerts and performances at the Kennedy Center.

In 2016, Rae and John decided to leave the “bright lights” of Northern Virginia and move to Louisiana in order to be closer to Rae’s son, David, who was living in Gonzales, LA. As John’s health began to fail, Rae moved the two of them to Maison Jardin, a senior living facility in Morgan City, LA. After John passed away on August 12, 2018, Rae stayed at Maison Jardin. The move to Louisiana and relocation to Morgan City, brought quite a change in her circumstances, but Rae’s indomitable spirit of curiosity led her to make many new friends at Maison Jardin and she became an integral part of that community.

As a testament to her insatiable appetite for adventure and her well-earned reputation for feistiness, Rae flew to Colorado in April, 2023 to visit her younger sister, “Frankie.” It had been many years since the two sisters had seen each other and it was a sweet reunion with many laughs, tears and hugs throughout the three day visit. The following February, after recovering from hip surgery, she gained a whole new set of care providers from Home Instead, some of whom became like family to her. Rae’s last big adventure came in the midst of the largest snowfall in Louisiana in 100 years, as she and her daughter, Vicki traveled by Medivac for more than 14 hours to North Carolina so that she could take up residence close to Vicki and her family, who were on hand to welcome her to North Carolina.

Rae’s final rest began while listening to the song she loved, “In Christ there is no East or West.” The family plans to have a ceremony when Rae and John are interred in Arlington Cemetery at a future date to be determined, and has requested any memorials or donations in Rae’s honor be made to Alice Lloyd College, a small Christian college she has supported for years.
100 Purpose Road, Pippa Passes, Kentucky 41844, https://www.alc.edu/about-us/our-mission/ ,

Rae was predeceased by her parents, Harold and Madge Guenthner, her husband, Captain John Harold Scott, Jr., and her brother, Phil. She is survived by her sister, Mary Frances (“Frankie”); by her three children, Vicki T. Paxton (and husband, W. David Paxton) who reside in Apex, NC, Tracy Elaine Thomas, who resides in Placerville, CA, and David Whitney Thomas (and his wife Suzanne Bowman Thomas), who reside in Baton Rouge, LA; her four grandchildren, Corey Paxton (and his wife Danielle) of Apex, NC, Traci Rae Rowe (and her husband Matt) of Raleigh, Kaylyn Hawks of Placeerville, CA. and Tara (“Tabby”) Thomas of Washington State. She was proud of her six great grandchildren, Hannah, Shiloah and Norah Paxton, Paige and Tyler Rowe and Daisy Branch of Placerville, CA; and lots of nieces, nephews and cousins too numerous to list.