Mrs. Carl Scott (Jo Scott) went home to be with the Lord on July 24, 2014 in Clovis, NM. Memorial services will be held at 10:00 at Central Baptist Church in Clovis, New Mexico, on July 28, 2014. Arrangements are under the care of Ellis Funeral Home in Muleshoe, Texas. Officiating the services
Leading the services will be her beloved Pastor, Alan McAlister, and Mrs. Scott’s great nephews, pastor Dr. Joe Loughlin of Dallas, Texas, and pastor Dr. John Loughlin of McKinney, Texas.

Mrs. Carl Scott (Jo Scott) was born in Tipton County, Tennessee, to Joseph Finnie Densford and Annie Mary Harris Densford on August 8, 1920. When she was 6 years old her mother died and Mrs. Scott then spent her growing up and school years living in her father’s house near Memphis and with her relatives in Harrisburg.

She accepted Christ as her Savior at age 14. From that time on, she professed that her life was never the same because in her own words she said many times: “When I accepted Jesus Christ, He became the pole star of my existence.”

She graduated from high school in 1937, in Harrisburg, Arkansas, and at that time was living with her preacher and his wife in Harrisburg, Arkansas, she took care of their children for her room and board. The day after graduation, she packed a borrowed suitcase filled with her belongings and took the bus to Conway, Arkansas, with 55 dollars in her purse so she could enroll at Central Baptist College. While there, she worked various jobs to pay her tuition.

While in school, she met a young man who was called into the ministry, Carl R. Scott. She married this young preacher in 1938 and felt the call of God to attend Baylor University in Waco, Texas. Both attended Baylor and after graduation left to move to Kansas City, Kansas, where they enrolled in Central Baptist Seminary. Both earned seminary degrees, she earning a master’s in religious education.

Then in 1956, they were called to Central Baptist Church in Clovis and Dr. and Mrs. Scott began a long ministry of 25 years in Clovis, New Mexico. Mrs. Scott loved being a minister’s wife and considered it a calling from the Lord. For 26 years, she would teach Sunday school at Retirement Ranch in Clovis, then drive to Central to teach a Sunday school class there. She would cook Sunday dinner for the entire family, then teach at the 5:00 hour in Training Union Sunday night at church.

She was active in Women’s Missionary Union. In 1960, Mrs. Scott had the idea to reach out to foreign women who were married to airman at the base and teach them the Laubach “Each One Teach One” method of English. Over the years, Mrs. Scott taught many women from 19 different countries to speak and read English. Through this effort, many young women accepted the Lord as Savior. In addition, she planned and reached out to the Mexican national farm workers in the area. For several months, Dr. and Mrs. Scott and volunteers would take food and clothing to Bovina, Texas, and hold church on Sunday afternoon at the barracks of the workers, serve them a hot meal and pass out clothing. One year, she and her family worked in a Christian girls’ camp in Edmonton, Alberta Canada. The family served in that camp for two weeks – Dr. Scott as camp pastor and Mrs. Scott as part of the kitchen staff.

Mrs. Scott was a sought after speaker for women’s groups in New Mexico, Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Mississippi. She was named one of Ten Most Outstanding Pastors Wives in the Southern Baptist Convention in 1969 and named “Women of the Year” by Williams Baptist College in Walnut Ridge, Arkansas in 1970.

In the late 1960’s, Mrs. Scott went back to school and received a second Masters in Special Education and Psychology. She taught special education and gifted education in the Clovis schools for 23 years.

In 1981, when her husband died, she became involved in Chuck Colson’s Prison Fellowship and in a volunteer for Prison Fellowship, she attended seminars in federal and state prisons in 12 states and many of those times, she was assigned to death row. She later was put in a leadership role and led seminars in prisons from California, to Cook Country Jail in Chicago to Raiford Prison in Florida where she also ministered to inmates on death row. One of her most memorable experiences was in the federal prison in Virginia where she led a Crusio and a seminar for those on death row in Texas where she ministered to Carla Fay Tucker. For many years, she also led a jail ministry in Clovis, New Mexico.

She taught Old and New Testament at Clovis Community College and Wayland Baptist University. She also taught Psychology at Clovis Community College for many years.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Carl R. Scott, Th.D, in 1980; her parents; a brother James Keith Densford of Harrisburg Arkansas, and a sister Annie Francis Thomas of San Diego, California and an infant sister.
She is survived by her children: two daughters Judy (Charlie) Brandon of Clovis and Susie (Mike) Kesler of Rochester, Minnesota; grandchildren and great grandchildren, Annie (Brandon) Reid of Clovis and children, Halle, Jessa and Preston; John Scott (Dana) Brandon of Keller, Texas and children Ellie, Augustus and Jaden; Benjamin (Shannon) Kesler of Anthem, Arizona; Buffy Brandon of Clovis; Jill (Jesse) Wooten of Rochester, Minnesota and children, Sophie, Jackson and Shelby. She is also survived by two nieces, Joann Thomas Loughlin of McKinney, Texas, and Margaret Thomas Tice of Liverpool, Ohio.
Pall bearers will be grandsons John Scott Brandon, Ben Kesler, Brandon Reid, and Jesse Wooten, and dear family and friends Fred Chandler, Caleb Chandler, Rob Hollis, and Charles Bibbs.

The family asks that in lieu of flowers, memorial contributions in Mrs. Scott’s honor be made to the Baptist Children’s Home, 2200 S Avenue I Portales, NM 88130, or Samaritan’s Purse PO Box 3000, Boone, NC 28607, or the Lighthouse Mission, PO Box 297, Clovis, NM 88101.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Jo Scott (Densford), please visit our Heartfelt Sympathies Store.