VALLEY FORGE, PA (ABNS 7/15/11)—Dr. Beverly Dunston Scott, former vice president of American Baptist Churches USA (ABCUSA), died on Monday, July 11, 2011.
Dunston Scott was elected as vice president of ABCUSA in 1983, and served from 1982-1983. She chaired the 1997 Biennial Program Committee for the Indianapolis Biennial, and was a member of the Baptist World Alliance General Council and the BWA Committee Against Racism. She also served as president of North American Baptist Women’s Union (1997-2002), a continental union of the Baptist World Alliance Women’s Department.
She served on the Board of Directors of the American Baptist Assembly for two terms, 1989-1991 and 1992-1994. She concluded her service in the capacity of Board Chair in 1994.
Dunston Scott, a former President of the Lott Careys Women’s Auxiliary (2001-2004), was the spouse of Dr. James A. Scott, Pastor Emeritus of Bethany Baptist Church, Newark, NJ and President of the Lott Carey Foreign Mission Convention (1982-1985). Dr. Scott also served as president of ABCUSA from 1992-1993.
“All of us at ABCUSA were richly blessed by the life and work of Beverly Dunston Scott,” said Roy Medley, general secretary of ABCUSA. “Her service as the hands and feet of Christ in our world was visible both in Baptist circles and in her work at Rutgers University and her community. The light of God’s love shone through her wherever she went, which is the highest tribute that can be paid to a Christian.”
Aside from her vast involvement in ABCUSA life, Dunston Scott volunteered her vision, skills, and services for 35 years to the Newark, NJ community, establishing and managing multiple programs within the community. Some of these programs include: Christian Advocates for Public Education, aiding professional educators, parents, public officials, and citizens seeking to improve the quality of public schools by direct action; Life Skills training program for the homeless, to teach them skills that would enable them to live independently; training male and female citizens through “Friendly Volunteers Visitors Program” to go into hospitals, nursing homes, and other facilities and bring hope and cheer to isolated and lonely persons; an after-school tutorial program for primary age children in several low-income subsidized housing communities; and a summer fun program. Additionally, she initiated the first hospice training program to serve the Newark inner city community, which resulted in more than 300 people being trained to provide hospice services.
Dunston Scott had been involved nationally and globally. She traveled and worked with women in Africa, Europe, Asia, Central and South America. As an advocate for women, she participated in a dialogue of religious leaders at the Vatican in 2000. She conceived a volunteer health team in Uganda and raised funds for lepers in India and sanitary facilities in a remote area of Guyana.
Dunston Scott graduated from Bucknell University in 1952, and attended Yale University School of Nursing, graduating in 1955 with an M.S. in Nursing. In 1968 she completed studies at Rutgers University, earning a Master of City and Regional Planning degree. She joined the Rutgers faculty in 1970. During her ensuing 23-year tenure at Rutgers, she developed graduate and undergraduate courses in urban/community health, served as Associate Dean of Livingston College for two years, and served on numerous statewide policy committees concerning nursing homes, access to health care for the poor, and establishment of a planning process for all health services.
Dunston Scott was Professor Emeritus at Rutgers University, and received the Bucknell University Alumni Association “Service to Humanity” Award in 2007.
A Celebration of Life service will be held on Saturday, July 16, 2011, at 9:30am at Bethany Baptist Church, 275 West Market Street, Newark, NJ 07103. Church contact: 973-623-8161.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests contributions to the Bethany Baptist Church Scholarship Fund in memory of Dr. Beverly Dunston Scott. Any contributions to this fund can be sent, ATTN: Jeannette Lee, Bethany Baptist Church Scholarship Fund. “Beverly would have been honored if she knew that anyone contributed in her name to that fund,” said her husband, Dr. James A. Scott.
American Baptist Churches is one of the most diverse Christian denominations today, with 5,500 local congregations comprised of 1.3 million members, across the United States and Puerto Rico, all engaged in God’s mission around the world.