Evelyn Scott Hurst

Evelyn Scott Hurst (Home Economics 1948 Iowa State College) is honored as an important Iowa woman -- in the role of Carrie Chapman Catt -- by her daughters: Lise Hurst Shannon San Jose Calif. (BS in Journalism 1974 Iowa State University) and Lindsay J. Hurst Chicago M. (BS Home Economics 1976 Iowa State University). This is their depiction of Evelyn's life her work and her contribution to Iowa society.

Evelyn Scott Hurst now from Boca Raton, Fla. headed the Girl Scout program in Northwest Iowa for over 25 years (1957 - 1983) from its Lakota Council headquarters in Fort Dodge. Evelyn was widely known in Northwest Iowa as she spoke at community functions conducted training programs visited satellite offices and enlisted support for Girl Scouting in fourteen counties.

During her years as a Scouting executive Evelyn made a wide range of female friends and acquaintances and she made a notable impression on thousands of Iowa girls. Evelyn has always believed in the ability of women to match men talent for talent in business government social activism and personal greatness. And she believes that the keys which unlock the door to achievement for women are education information and opportunity. Along with her twin sister Ethlyn (Lynn) Scott Jones Tulsa, Okla.

Evelyn attended Iowa State University from 1944-1948. During their collegiate years Evelyn and Ethlyn were charter members of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority on Lynn Avenue. Each earned a Bachelor of Science College of Home Economics in 1948 and subsequently found career opportunities in Chicago. Married in Chicago in 1952 widowed in 1955 Evelyn returned to Fort Dodge to live and raise two daughters. She shared her child-rearing responsibilities with her mother Augusta Scott as well as her childhood home a 1920s story-and-a half wood frame farmhouse on 13 acres at the northwest corner of town.

Evelyn is an avid reader and news consumer. In her Iowa days she borrowed books on a regular basis at the Fort Dodge Public Library. She subscribed to the Fort Dodge Messenger and the Des Moines Register and tuned into the evening news on WOI-TV (Ames). TIME and the New Yorker filled her yearning for a more cosmopolitan perspective. As the family provider in her Fort Dodge home Evelyn stretched her resources and provided a comfortable environment for her mother and her children.

Education the environment travel the out-of-doors fiscal responsibility and social conscience were and are important values to Evelyn. She provided her daughters with many opportunities to learn and develop skills outside the classroom: lessons in dance piano swimming; the opportunityto keep and care for animals; the chance to travel to many parts of the United States; and she inspired in them her love of reading. Evelyn became a charter member of Fort Dodge's League of Women Voters pursuing vigorously the passage of the equal rights amendment and speaking out in favor of candidates for public office who were blind to gender bias. She continues to be an active member of the League in Palm Beach County Florida. Evelyn retired from Girl Scouting in 1983 and relocated to Boca Raton Florida to be closer to her younger sister Darlene Scott Beeh (University of Iowa class of ‘53).

Today she works full time as the Social Director of Boca Teeca Golf and Tennis Club where she provides resident excursions to theaters, museums, attractions and exhibits throughout South Florida. She is active in her church volunteers her time at an area nursing home and serves on the board of her condominium association. In between, Evelyn continues to travel often visiting her daughters and grandsons in Chicago and San Jose.

6/11/94