Death of Gwendolyn Edna Stinger Scott, former missionary in Turkey

Global Ministries is saddened to learn of the death of Gwendolyn Scott on July 2, 2009.

Gwen, 93, of Andover, MA passed away at Lawrence General Hospital with her family by her side.  She grew up in Minneapolis, MN, and went to Carleton College in Northfield, MN where she met her future husband, John Scott.  In 1946 they traveled to Kayseri, Turkey where they served as missionary teachers for the United Church Board of World Missions at the Talas American Junior High, a boarding school for Turkish boys. Gwen taught English, sewed the costumes for weekly plays, ran the library, and served as a mother for the boys.  John and Gwen left Talas in 1960 to teach at a sister Board school, the Uskudar American Girls High School in Istanbul. 

John died in 1975 and Gwen continued until she retired in 1980.  She settled first in Northfield, MN where she was an active member of the United Methodist Church and taught English to Vietnamese immigrants.  She came to Andover, MA in 1998 to be near one of her daughters and became an active member of both South Church and a lively book group. 

Gwen is survived by daughters Roxy Barry of Andover, MA, and Deborah Scott of Vancouver, Canada, as well as by five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. 

Her ashes will be buried with her husband in Istanbul, Turkey.  Contributions in her name may be sent to FABSIT, Friends of the American Board Schools in Turkey, 14 Beacon St., Suite 708, Boston, MA 02108.

Messages of condolence may be sent to Ms. Roxanne Barry, 14 School St., Andover, MA 01810-4038.

Donald Barry, Gwen’s son-in-law, had written about her for her memorial service in August and included these thoughts:

She and John had dreamed of retiring to the Turkish town of Iznik.  Many years ago the name of the town was Nicea and it is there that the Nicene Creed was written.  It has been famous for its pottery for 500 years.  We will take her ashes to Turkey next summer, we will place them in an Iznik pot, and we will bury them with her husband in the Protestant cemetery in Istanbul.  It is a cemetery filled with missionaries, many of whose tombstones say, “Well done good and faithful servant.”  That would be appropriate for Gwen.  But perhaps we’ll write on the tombstone what Turkish friends have written to us:  Nur içinde yatsınlar.  May they rest in holy light.