The AOEA and Outdoor Lab staff are sad to learn that Fred C. Scott, has passed. Fred was the husband of AOEA board member Anita Knipling Scott and has supported the Outdoor Lab and the Knipling family for many years.
Frederick C. Scott
October 19, 1934 – February 21, 2025
Frederick C. Scott, beloved husband, father, grandfather and friend, passed away peacefully at the age of 90 with his family at his side on February 21, 2025. He had recently experienced heart and respiratory complications.
He was born in 1934 in Chicago, Illinois, the oldest of three children of Helen “Frosty” Baker. From his early childhood through high school, his family moved frequently due to his father’s job in sales – primarily throughout the South. Regardless, wherever they lived, Fred excelled in athletics and leadership, three times being elected class President while making the football, softball, swim and track teams, and finally tennis – an avid passion through adulthood.
He graduated from the University of Richmond with degrees in History and Political Science, having worked his way through college while serving as President of Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity and of the university’s interfraternity Council, as well as other elected positions. It was at U of R that he met his wife of 66 years, Anita Knipling.
Fred and Anita, who were married in 1959, had four children – in 5 ½ years!: Craig, Kimberly, Brian and Kathryn. Tragically, both Brian and Craig died as young adults.
Fred and Anita settled in Arlington, Virginia, where she worked as an English teacher and he worked for Travelers Insurance Company in the pension field before starting his own firm, Frederick C. Scott and Associates, from which he retired in 2012.
Through Anita’s large family and their regular road trips to the family cabins, he learned to love the outdoors, hunting and fishing. He also relished western mystery novels, Hallmark movies, the Redskins, big band music, coin collecting, yoo hoos, the pride of a well-groomed lawn and of being an American. He cherished his collie Shane and passed on his true love of animals to his children and grandchildren. His sense of humor was legendary, if not questionable.
His many friends and the community at Washington Golf and Country Club provided Fred with endless memories, particularly with his bridge buddies of many years.
He is survived by Anita Knipling Scott, his daughters Kimberly Scott and Kathryn Scott Palombi, his son-in-law Jerry Palombi, and his greatest joys — his grandchildren, Nicholas, Matthew, Lauren and Mitchell Palombi — as well as the love of many extended cousins.
There will be no immediate funeral services, but a celebration of life will be planned in the coming months. Expressions of sympathy may be sent to the Arlington Outdoor Education Association. https://outdoorlab.org/donate/