W. Scott North

W. Scott North, age 75, of Morehead, Kentucky, passed away Monday, October 10, 2022, at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Edgewood, Kentucky.

Born May 11, 1947, at River, Kentucky, in Johnson County, he was a son of the late Foley and Gladys Daniel North.   Besides his parents, he was preceded in death by one sister, Bette North LaRue.

Scott’s devoted wife, Vonda Kay Griffith North, whom he married December 1, 1967, passed away January 2, 2016.

Scott is survived by one son, Christopher Scott North and wife Wendi of Hebron, Kentucky; one daughter, Melissa Leuenberger and husband Tim of Morehead, Kentucky; and five grandchildren, Audrey, Benjamin and Olivia North and Aiden and Sydney Leuenberger.

Other survivors include four siblings, Gary North and wife Martha of Knoxville, Tennessee, Sandra Webb, Foley M. North and wife Karen, and Jeri North Bluhm, all of Morehead, Kentucky, as well as nieces and nephews, extended family, and friends.

Born and raised near Paintsville until he was 16 years old, Scott made a choice to find better opportunity by moving to his lifelong home of Morehead, KY.  He accomplished this with the help of his oldest brother, Gary who as dorm director at Wilson Hall at Morehead State University, enrolled Scott at University Breckinridge and provided him a basement dorm room to live in as he finished his high school education.  It was at that time Scott met his soul mate and love of his life, Vonda Kay Griffith North, who also found herself enrolled at Breckinridge after moving to Morehead as a teenager to live with her sister, Dr. Betty Porter.  Scott and Kay both went on to pursue a college education together at Morehead State University and lived at Normal Hall married housing.   Scott found himself just a few credits shy of an industrial arts degree when the he left school to work on a pipeline that came through Morehead to provide a better living for his growing family.  It was that unlikely job offer that led Scott into a storied career that will be talked about and documented for years to come. 

Scott began his pipeline career as a laborer, then joined Pipeliner’s Local Union 798 as a welder helper and quickly broke out as a rig welder after attending the Local Union 798 Welder Training Center in 1969.  Scott welded for various pipeline contractors around the United States until he found himself working on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline in 1974 and 1975 as a union welder steward.  In 1983 Scott took the position of Welder Foreman for Delta Gulf Corporation where he worked for the majority of his career in the field as a welder foreman and project superintendent until 1998.   During this time Scott also served as a multi-term elected Executive Board Member of Local Union 798 until he took on the daunting challenge to run for the office of Business Manager/Financial Secretary of Local Union 798 when he won an upset victory to unseat the well-established incumbent.   Scott went on to win two more re-election campaigns and many of his reforms and initiatives live on as part of his legacy to this day.  Those include starting the local union’s first 401K savings program and negotiating “per diem” for the first time as part of the pipeliner’s pay package.  Although Scott’s seven-year tenure in Local 798’s highest office was not free of controversy and he eventually resigned, he always loved his Local Union and more importantly the thousands of individual members that he proudly served. 

After retirement from Local 798 and the United Association, Scott’s pipeline career continued as a consultant and inspector where he got to spend time out in the field close to the people he dearly loved.  In that period, Scott’s consulting work travels took him overseas to Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan for BP where he narrowly made it out of  Tbilisi, Georgia before the 2008 Russo-Georgian War.

Not long after his return stateside and after a few more inspection projects during the Marcellus Shale boom, Scott quietly retired a second time to his farm on Sugarloaf Mountain in Morehead, KY where he put his endless energy into his most proud role and job as grandfather to his five grandchildren.  They became his single focus and he poured everything he had learned from his life into them.  He taught them all of his passions that included: fishing, hunting, gardening, farming, and sports and he attended or followed every one of their games or activities.  Like so many, Scott enjoyed UK basketball and football as well as his Cincinnati Red’s baseball.  He never missed a Wildcat or Reds game but he mostly relished sharing those experiences with his family. 

After the passing of his wife, Kay of 48 years in 2015, Scott renewed a commitment to his Christian faith.  Even in his pain and poor health, Scott spent his last years helping others, whether it was financial assistance or just giving his time and company to those in greater need.  Within the last few months of his life and between his own hospitalizations, Scott sat vigil with two close friends in hospice at his independent living home.  As throughout his entire life Scott always found his own purpose through helping others. 

Funeral services will be conducted 1:00 p.m. Friday, October 14, 2022, at Northcutt & Son Home for Funerals Memorial Chapel with the Rev. Aaron Coyle-Carr officiating.  Burial will follow in Forest Lawn Memorial Gardens.

Pallbearers:  Benjamin North, Aiden Leuenberger, Timothy Leuenberger, Dr. Roger Porter, Nicholas Hanneken, and Mason Thacker.

Visitation is from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday, October 14, 2022, at Northcutt & Son Home for Funerals, 400 Fraley Drive, Morehead, KY 40351.

View memorial tribute or sign guestbook at www.northcuttandson.com   

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