Now remember - all this was the very early 80's,,,,,,

Scott was such a fun guy. I think of him as kind of like the "Duckie" character in the movie "Pretty in Pink". I have a mental picture of him standing in the cafeteria wearing a New Wave print shirt and carrying a copy of the Go-Go's Beauty and the Beat record (on vinyl!).

I also remember my friend Katherine and I dragging him along the first time I went down to Georgetown to see a midnight showing of "Rocky Horror". We were afraid to go by ourselves (wimps!) so we dragged Scott and Katherine's ex-boyfriend along, so they could "protect us" from - whatever..... Scott was cool about it and I think he enjoyed the movie.

(Kim Sailo, email to Stephenie N. LaMaina, November 9, 2005)

"I don't tell exaggerated stories; I live an exaggerated life."

(Scott D. Garrison, September 1985)

Hi, I am Stephenie LaMaina and live in New Jersey with my three children and husband.

I met Scott 20 years ago, September 1984, durning our first week at University of Delaware. By winter session he moved into the dorm room next door to me. While we were at college, we were always together. We dated for a while but concluded that we were best friends, not boyfriend and girlfriend. Even after I left college and moved to Philadelphia, we still saw each other almost every weekend. It drove whoever we were dating at the time crazy. As our lives took us in different directions, me to California and later him to Texas, we still saw each other whenever we could and when we couldn't, we talked on the telephone or through email.

I really miss talking to him. We discussed everything from the important decisions to matters of the heart to mundane thoughts about life. Even though it has been three months since he passed, I still find myself thinking, "I have to tell Scott about..." forgetting for a split second that he is gone.

Stephenie

(Stephenie N. LaMaina, posted on the Scott-Garrison YahooGroup, message #8, January 10, 2005, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Scott-Garrison/)

On December 27, 1985, Stephenie LaMaina taught Scott to ski at Little Gap in the Pocono's, PA.  He was a fast learner.  Everything was going well until…

Scott and I were in the ready position for the next chair lift to come around.  He was on the left.  I was on the right.  We both had both ski poles grasped in our inside hand.  As the chair neared we both looked back over our outside shoulder and used our outside hand to guide us onto the chair.  Before I had a chance to put the safety bar down, Scott says, "Hey, you're sitting on my poles!"  and then he yanked them out from under my backside.  Unfortunately, his action caused me to fall off the chair lift from about 15 feet in the air.  Instead of yelling to me something like, "are you okay?" he says, "Who's going to help me get off the lift?"  All I could do was laugh.  Luckily, I was not hurt.

You could tell that first time that Scott was hooked.  He loved to ski.  Over the years he skied many place including: Little Gap PA, Keystone Resort, Seven Springs, Hidden Valley, Park City Utah, Breckenridge, Vail, Deer Valley Utah, Copper Mountain

(Stephenie N. LaMaina, posted on the Scott-Garrison YahooGroup, message #4, December 20, 2004, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Scott-Garrison/)

I first met Scott enroute to the 1991 YR National Convention.  He was traveling with someone that I already happened to know so I actually met him at the airport in Raleigh where the two of them were changing planes and Anne Hodnett and I were on the same flight headed down there.  The four of us took a cab together from the airport to the hotel and at some point the road went by some big elevated road or overpass.  There was a large homeless encampment under it, lots of makeshift tents and packing crates that the homeless were living in. Scott took one look at it and said "we have something like this in DC, but this one looks much more developed."  His sense of humor was memorable, and a bit offbeat.

(James Proctor, posted on the Scott-Garrison YahooGroup, message #5, December 21, 2004, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Scott-Garrison/)

I am Edie Moore McGee. I knew Scott through Young Republicans and worked with him closely on a number of projects in the early and mid-1990's. After that, I dropped out of politics, because I went to law school at night. I then got married. Through the years, however, I stayed in touch with him by email.

(Edie Moore McGee, posted on the Scott-Garrison YahooGroup, message #9, January 16, 2005, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Scott-Garrison/)

..."Some of my favorite nights out & about (ie, bars) have been when I was successful at making someone I don't know smile.  That's even how I met my last "ex"; complimented" ... "and I walked away feeling better with absolutely no expectations of anything further.  I do the same on here; pvt someone w/a compliment.  It's certainly a better approach then, "Hi."  I don't need to see them grinning to know that they are and that I was responsible for it.  That's sometimes enough for me. - Scott"

(Scott D. Garrison, email to Michael/mike_w-ford, July 8, 2004)

From:  "Scott Garrison" scodger@earthlink.net
To:  "Stephenie" SLaMaina@yahoo.com
Sent:  Wednesday, April 21, 200411:15 PM
Subject:  Because she made me do it

---- Original Message ----

Sent:  Wednesday, April 21, 20045:19 PM
Subject:  Getting to know your friends

Welcome to the next edition of getting to know your friends.  Okay, here's what you're supposed to do… and try not to be LAME and spoil the fun!  Copy (not forward) this entire e-mail and paste it into a new e-mail that you can send.  Change all of the answers so that they apply to you.  Then, send this to a whole bunch of people you know *INCLUDING* the person who sent it to you.  The theory is that you will learn a lot of little known facts about your friends. It is fun and easy.
 
***Remember to send it back to the person who sent it to you***

1.  WHAT COLOR PANTS ARE YOU WEARING?  Dark Green.

2.  WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?  Law & Order SVU on USA Network.  Musically, I have 'Til Tuesday's ''What About Love" in the car and Adam Ant's "Manners and Physique" in my CD player.

3.  SOUPS OR SALAD?  Probably soup, but could go either way.

4.  WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE?  Arby's Chicken Cordon Bleu sandwich.
 
5.  IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?  Bishop's purple.
 
6.  WEATHER RIGHT NOW?  74 degrees, light clouds, balmy.
 
7.  LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?  My mutha.
 
8.  DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT YOU THIS?  I did until she sent me this!  OK, my oldest-dearest friend of 19 1/2 years.

9.  HOW ARE YOU TODAY?  Better than most people think; not as good as I would like to be.

10.  FAVORITE DRINK?  Raspberry Iced Tea.

11.  FAVORITE ALCOHOLIC DRINK?  Single-malt scotch (Glenlivet).

12.  FAVORITE SPORTS?  Bowling, tennis, figure skating, pro football.

13.  HAIR COLOR?  Medium brown. (It's baaack!)

14.  EYE COLOR?  Medium blue with brown flecks throughout.

15.  DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?  No, but I am aware of context.

16.  SIBLINGS AND THEIR AGES?  Only child, but four step-sisters (technically).

17.  FAVORITE FOOD?  Any that make me feel like doing the "Phennie Food Dance".  Not that I would...

18.  LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?  Connie and Carla (just came from the movie theatre with a group).

19.  FAVORITE DAY OF THE YEAR?  All of them.  Most specifically my birthday.

20.  ARE YOU TOO SHY TO ASK SOMEONE OUT?  Never. It's just very rare I find anyone worthy of such an investment of time!

21.  SUMMER OR WINTER?  Winter.

22.  RELATIONSHIPS OR ONE NIGHT STANDS?  Neither. Somewhere in between.

23.  CHOCOLATE OR VANILLA?  Butterscotch.

24.  DO YOU WANT YOUR FRIENDS TO WRITE BACK?  Always.

25.  WHO IS MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND?  Cindy, Skip.

26.  LEAST LIKELY?  Isi.

27.  LIVING ARRANGEMENT?  Happily single; condo rental.

28.  WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU READING?  Research and Development, Part 2 of 2.  (class starts tomorrow).

29.  WHATS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?  Purple.

30.  FAVORITE BOARD GAME?  Petropolis (no longer exists).

31.  WHAT DID YOU DO LAST NIGHT?  Grabbed a bite to eat, wasted 20-25 minutes at 3 different bars, not for the sake of being out, but for the sake of not being in (weather was beautiful).

32.  FAVORITE SMELLS?  leather, cherry-vanilla pipe tobacco, food cooking, powder-based cologne.

33.  CAN YOU TOUCH YOUR NOSE WITH YOUR TONGUE?  ... nor do I want to...

34.  WHAT INSPIRES YOU?  the possibility of realized potential.

35.  BUTTERED, PLAIN, OR SALTED POPCORN?  yes.

36.  FAVORITE CAR?  practical, driveable, mechanical problem- free, and paid for.

37.  FAVORITE FLOWER?  gladioli (purple, black, or blue).

38.  HOW MANY KEYS ON YOUR KEY RING?  Three.

39.  CAN YOU JUGGLE?  No.

40.  WHAT WOULD YOU HATE TO BE TRAPPED IN A ROOM WITH?  Anything other than myself.

41.  7-UP OR SPRITE?  Still boycotting Sprite since their media campaign that featured those two kid rappers who were 12-year old dropouts calling themselves pimp names and wearing their pants backward.  Sent a negative message.

42.  COFFEE?  Sure, many varieties, cold and hot.

43.  WHO'S YOUR LOVE?  Myself.  Still not quite a perfect love, but striving for it.

44.  FAVORITE PERFUME?  Leather cologne or Lagerfeld.

45.  DOGS OR CATS?  Dogs, almost any breed; NEVER cats.

OK... am I done now?  Call me sometime; I tried to reach you around your birthday, but finally gave up!  :-(

(Scott D. Garrison, email to Stephenie N. LaMaina, April 21, 2004)

"PMA (Positive Mental Attitude) is essential to getting through something like this.  It is never a guarantee, but Negative Attitude, in my opinion, is potentially fatal."

(Scott D. Garrison, email to Diana Duncan, August 16, 2004)

..."His biggest fear was being forgotten, not dying."...

(James Proctor, email to Stephenie N. LaMaina, November 7, 2004)

Scott passed from this life on Friday, October 15, 2004, at 5:06 P.M.

On Monday of that week, Scott was sleeping and I was sitting in his hospital room, reading. I looked up as I saw his right arm lift and his fingers climb a make-believe ladder into the air. He kept repeating, "I've got to get ahead of him. I've got to get ahead of him." I asked, "You've got to get ahead of whom?" His response was, "Van Cliburn." (Van Cliburn had honored our country by winning the first Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in Moscow in 1958. Since Scott had been a piano student from age 7-17 and had won several piano competitions at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, MD, I thought that he might be referring to the piano virtuoso when he said, "Van Cliburn.")

I asked him, "Where are you?" When he didn't answer, I suggested, "Are you climbing the ladder to Heaven?" He responded affirmatively. I then asked, "Where are you in line?" Scott replied, "I'm 466 in line but I've got to get ahead of him." I asked what day this was and he responded that it was Friday. At that point, Parkland Hospital staff came in to take another x-ray and we never resumed the conversation.

That Friday, all during the day, physicians, nurses, tech staff, and Chaplin Duncan came to say good-bye to him and to offer prayers for him. I was told that everyone in the hospital who had come in contact with Scott had found him stalwart and brave. He was referred to as a hero many times that day.

When Scott passed, someone realized that the number 466 could be 4:00 o'clock. Then add 60 minutes and you get 5:00 o'clock with 6 minutes left over. So 466 becomes 5:06 (when he passed) and it also was on a Friday. G-d bless Scott, wherever he is, and also bless those who love and remember him.

(Cindy Towsner, posted Scott David Garrison Memorial Page, Tributes & Condolences, October 17, 2007, http://scott-garrison.memory-of.com/tributes.aspx)

There was a memorial service in Washington, DC on Monday, October 25, 2004.  Quite a few people spoke at the service about how Scott touched their lives.  Over 100 people attended the service or paid their respects at his mother's home that evening.  It was quite moving to see how much this one person effected the lives of so many people.

Scott's family has been comforted by all the cards, notes, telephone calls, and emails they have received.  His family asked me to contact everyone in his address book about his passing.  I have been close friends with Scott for over 20 years.  What struck me most about contacting everyone was that I felt as if I knew many of them and how many of them seemed to know me even though we may never have met.  Scott had a way of connecting you to others in his life through his stories.  While I was down in Dallas, after his passing, I met some of his friends.  We all felt very comfortable together, like we were old friends.   The same has been true of the approximately 40 people who I have talked to through email or telephone calls.

He will be missed.

Stephenie LaMaina

Scott David Garrison     
 
On Friday, October 15, 2004 of Dallas, TX, formerly of Kensington, MD. Beloved son of Cynthia M. Towsner and Dr. Kenneth R. Greenberg; loving brother of Katrina (Craig) Goldband; great-nephew of Rose Marcus; nephew of Sandra (Leonard) Leibowitz and Robert S. (Rita) Towsner; cousin of Ronald (Stephanie) Greenberg and Deb (Joel Simon) Gordon. Also survived by many other relatives and friends. Memorial services will be held on Monday, October 25, 3 p.m. at DANZANSKY-GOLDBERG MEMORIAL CHAPELS, INC., 1170 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD (301) 340-1400. Family will be receiving friends immediately following the services at the residence of Cynthia M. Towsner. Expressions of sympathy in his memory may be made your charity of choice.

(Obituary of Scott David Garrison, The Washington Post, October 21 to 24, 2004)