Jill Scott

SALISBURY — Jill Scott passed away peacefully on Jan. 2, after 93 years of a wide-ranging and well-travelled life.

She was born in Essex, England in 1932. She attended a girls’ boarding school, then went on to complete a year of college. Unfortunately, the need to educate two younger brothers and the Second World War (during which she was evacuated to Oxford) interrupted her studies.

She briefly worked assorted jobs in the London area and attended her brother’s sporting events at the King’s School, Canterbury. It was at King’s that she met and married her husband Neil, a teacher. She was soon hired by King’s as a “house matron,” essentially taking on the household management and “mothering duties” for a large dormitory of teenage boys.

Prior to starting a family, she and Neil went on a motorcycle camping trip to Scotland. Later, summers were spent camping with her growing family in nearby European countries.

Jill and Neil needed new horizons, so they moved with their three children to Quebec, Canada for a year, then down to the Hotchkiss School in Connecticut in 1970. Jill immediately became engaged in supporting all the activities of her family, and, once the children were old enough to be home alone, she started working part-time for the Lakeville Journal as a copy editor. Always a supporter of Hotchkiss, Jill frequently worked in the Hotchkiss School store.

A teaching exchange year in New Zealand provided additional adventure in 1986-1987, and Jill thoroughly enjoyed traveling throughout those islands with Neil and with visiting friends.

Upon Neil’s retirement in 1993 Jill continued her family support work, taking special joy in spending any time possible with each of her four grandchildren as they grew. Jill and Neil also traveled overseas and around the globe, visiting family and friends, and just enjoying new people and experiences.

Besides being family-centered, Jill was a lifelong learner. She read voraciously and thoroughly enjoyed discussing world events with anyone and everyone. She took a multitude of classes, from ceramics to world history, and always enjoyed learning something new. She also believed in community service and was a long-time member of the Salisbury Garden club. Indeed, she was a passionate gardener and, as one friend put it, she could plant a broomstick in the ground and make it grow. She thoroughly enjoyed her time reading to younger students at Salisbury Central School and working with the Noble Horizons Auxiliary. She thrived being outdoors, whether camping, canoeing, skiing, sailing, playing golf, just going for walks, or, in her last years, riding the pathways at Noble Horizons in her electric chair.

Jill was very practical, and in a file designated for after her passing she left us all a note written long before:

“No pain, no senility. I am just in the next room. Laugh and enjoy every day”.

Jill is survived by her son David (Kari), daughter Carol, grandchildren Harry (Samantha), Alexandra, Philip, Spencer, and son-in-law Paul. She is predeceased by her husband Neil, daughter Kathryn, and brothers Jack and Robert. We all miss her greatly.

A celebration of life will be held in the dining room at Noble Horizons at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 2, 2026.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Jill’s name to Noble Horizons Auxiliary, 17 Cobble Road, Salisbury, CT 06068.

The Kenny Funeral Home has care arrangements.