Katherine "Kitty" Brooks Scott

Katherine (Kitty) Brooks Scott, age 96, of Birmingham, Alabama passed away on Wednesday, July 20, 2022. Kitty was born January 7, 1926 to Mr. Lee Allen Brooks and Katherine Morrow Ledbetter Brooks in Birmingham, AL. She was a descendent of some of the earliest Jones Valley (later to become the city of Birmingham) pioneer settlers, the Walkers and the Morrows. Kitty attended Birmingham Schools, she was a graduate of Ramsay High School and went on to further her education at Vanderbilt University where she graduated Magna Cum Laude in 1947 and was invited to become a member of Phi Beta Kappa due to her outstanding academic performance.

While at Vanderbilt, Kitty was a member of Lotus Eaters Honorary Society, the Tri-Arts, and Phi Sigma Iota (honorary French society). Admired for her beauty, she was freshman Prom Queen, Homecoming Queen, NROTC Queen, and Miss Vanderbilt, to top it all off. She was also honored with being elected president of her high-school sorority, Alpha Delta Psi, and later president of her college sorority, Delta Delta Delta. These early leadership roles proved useful throughout her life, as her fellow women often chose her to lead them in a variety of organizations and cultural undertakings. As a leader, Kitty was keen on taking into consideration everyone's point of view, while having very clear ideas of her own about what needed to be done in a variety of endeavors. Saying that she was strong willed is an understatement. Yet ultimately, Kitty was a very creative soul whose imagination always rose to the occasion, be it creating fun, silly musical skits with her friends, to selecting beautiful music for her choral group to singing or acting on stage in local community theatre productions. Most of those who knew her would agree that intellect, beauty, talent and good taste were hallmarks of her identity in every aspect of her life.

Kitty was dedicated to her local Birmingham community and had many passions that she was fortunate to pursue, in spite of having 6 children to raise. She served on the boards of the Birmingham Symphony (now Alabama Symphony), the Birmingham University School, and the Birmingham Festival of Arts. Kitty even served as Chairman of the Festival of Arts in 1977 and subsequently as Chairman of the Symphony Christmas Bazaar in 1978. Kitty was also a long-time director of the Junior League of Birmingham Choral Group whose members rewarded her one year with a paid trip to study choral music with Fred Waring, a renowned expert in choral singing. In her usual fashion as a Southern woman of great charm and wit, she befriended Fred Waring and maintained a correspondence with him over the years, as she did with Gail Kubik, a famous Oscar winning composer who had rented out his house in southern France to the entire Scott family back in 1975 for 4 months. Music was in her blood and in fact, Kitty was born singing! During the great Depression years of her youth, she and her friends entertained themselves and others with singing in harmony, often a cappella. Her passion for music and culture was such that she was also a member of the Birmingham Southern Arts Council for several years. Over the years, Kitty was a member of the following organizations: the Junior League of Birmingham, the Country Club of Birmingham, the 19th Century Literary Club, the Cambridge Study Club, the Mountain Brook Music and Arts Club, the Dirt Daubers Garden Club, the Doctors' Supper Club, "The Tuesdays", and both the Gaieties and Ballerinas Dance Clubs. Kitty was also a founding member of the Birmingham chapter of the Alliance Francaise. With her husband, Edward Van Zile Scott (known as Van), they were a part of Rotary International, the Downtown Rotary Club in Birmingham and the Rotary Club of Tours-Sud in France. Via the Rotary, Van and Kitty founded and funded a local library (la Bibliothèque de Bréhémont ) in France in the small town of Bréhémont, where they had bought a vacation home in 1980 on the banks of the Loire River. Kitty researched and assembled the requisite equipment and books to get the library up and running; she subsequently served as Director of this small French library for eight years.

After her husband became ill in the early 1990's, Kitty could no longer spend 6 months a year in France as she had done during the 1980's; so she devoted herself to organizing a series of Garden Tours throughout France with groups of up to 30 people. Her love of France knew no bounds and it all started with the Birmingham Festival of Arts back in 1972, the year that the festival honored France and French culture for the first time.

On a more informal social level, throughout her life, Kitty loved ballroom dancing, which was very much a part of her generation's social life, and she could dance with the best of them. At parties, she would often be found hovering over the piano player, singing songs from memory, which never ceased to amaze her friends and family. She knew the lyrics to a vast number of songs and could take a comment someone made and find an appropriate song to sing. She and her friends (Barbara Moon, Mary Bargeron, Ann Stewart, etc.) often took songs and changed the lyrics, making sly, witty variations to fit the occasion, be it a birthday or some other festive gathering. Storytelling was also one of those skills that people of her and preceding generations used to hone, given the reality of the world before television and other forms of somewhat mindless entertainment that exist now. People had to entertain themselves for the most part and during the Depression era, singing, acting, dancing and storytelling kept Kitty and her contemporaries from getting bored. Kitty could keep everyone entranced with her storytelling, from Ghost stories to stories of her childhood. And need we mention her wit and repartee?

Kitty had studied piano during her youth and in her 30's, with babies underfoot, she undertook learning how to play the guitar so that she could accompany herself in song. She became adept at playing and singing Bossa Nova music and many of the great Folk songs of the 60's and 70's. Gathered around a bonfire at Logan Martin lake; Kitty would play the guitar and sing in a heartfelt way that her children and friends feel the magic of music under star studded skies. Kitty brought magic into many people's lives!

And finally, as a natural born actress, Kitty became involved in local community theatre, where she performed in musicals like 'Pal Joey' to more serious roles like the lead in 'Tobacco Road', all with the Jewish Community's 'Center Players'. Her acting skills led to her doing television commercials for many years, the most memorable ones being for Golden Flake Potato Chips, Red Diamond Coffee, Coca Cola, and the Alabama Power Company.

Goodness! With all of these accomplishments under her belt, it all had to come to an end at some point; but after 96 years of age, we can all say that Kitty led a full and fascinating life. Over the years, she touched the lives of many people and left a legacy that many will remember for the rest of their lives.

Kitty is predeceased by her parents Mr.Lee Allen and Katherine Brooks;her sister Ann Brooks McDavid; her husband and father of her children, Edward Van Zile Scott; and her second husband, Homer Johnson Urquhart.

She leaves behind her children; Van Scott Jr.(Debbie), Lee Allen Scott (Jennifer), Katherine Scott Ingram, Porter Ledbetter Scott, Ann Scott Wicks (Jim), Charles Bulkeley Scott (Bonner), 15 grandchildren and 6 great-grandchildren. She will be greatly missed by her friends and relatives that held her dear to their heart.

A Celebration of Kitty's life will be held in her honor at a later time.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.ridoutsvalleychapel.com for the Scott family. In lieu of flowers, donations to Camp Holiday Trails would be appreciated (http://www.campholidaytrails.org)

Many thanks to the wonderful caregivers and hospice care who helped her through her final days.