Obituary of Scott Crouse

Longtime Bethune, Colorado resident Scott Rockne Crouse, age 79, was called home by his beloved wife Doris, 9 years to the day of her death on December 12, 2013. Scott passed away at his home south of Bethune, with his family by his side. Scott was born in the home of his parents, Albert and Mae Crouse, on a farm seven miles and one half mile east of Kanorado, Kansas, on December 9, 1934. His childhood days were spent on the farm playing with his older sisters, Patsy and Alberta, and his younger brother Barney. Both he and Barney were the two noted red-headed boys who were fawned over by family, friends and strangers. Those younger days were times of sharing a bike, and a pony with other siblings, playing in the sunflower forests that grew in the Kansas ditches, gathering cows in the pasture on foot, saving pollywogs from the drying up pond in the stock tank, having funerals for dead birds wrapped in cotton material in a kitchen match box casket, starting 4-H with a steer often too big to handle, and walking on crusted snow banks to get the mail one half mile away. Scott attended school in Kanorado until the 4th grade. When Scott was eleven years old, these halcyon days of farm life and Kanorado friends ended. The Crouse family had purchased the “Lamb Place” south of Bethune, and to be nearer the operation, they bought and moved into the “Millasack House” in Burlington at 540 12th street in December of 1945. There was a barn on the property, and still holding on to farm ways, a “milk” cow was brought to town along with all the accoutrements necessary for milking, a metal bucket, cream separator, milk bottles with cardboard caps. Scott and his brother Barney started delivering excess milk and cream to neighbors and friends all over Burlington. Scott started school in Burlington during the second semester of 1946. In high school, he lettered in football, basketball, baseball, and track for three years, and played the trumpet in band. He graduated from Burlington High School with the class of 1953. Scott attended Kemper Military School in Booneville, Missouri, where he was chosen the honorary cadet for an entire year. He graduated from there in 1957. He attended Colorado A & M in Fort Collins. While home on vacation, he met Doris Kaplan, a newly graduated nurse, who came from Denver to work at the hospital and who had just moved into an apartment next door to Scott’s parent’s home. To avoid the draft, Scott enlisted in the United States Army and began his first tour of duty in Fort Carson, Colorado. He was transferred to Fort Devin, Massachusetts for further training. It was there that the girl he met next door a few years earlier became his bride. He and Doris Kaplan were married on August 30, 1958. Scott’s next assignment was overseas to Formosa (Taiwan), where he spent 18 months. During this time, Doris returned to Burlington and worked at the Kit Carson County Memorial Hospital until Scott returned to the States. His final destination, while serving in the Army was Fort Huachuca, Arizona, where he was honorably discharged in 1960. Scott and Doris returned to the family farming operation, and moved to their home south of Bethune. It was there that they raised their four children: Scott, Dora, Teresa and Mark. Scott’s partner and soul mate, Doris, passed away after a lengthy illness in 2004. Scott was an avid reader. He was always up very early to read a few chapters of a book before work. In later years, after Doris died and he retired from farming, he would read 5 to 6 books a week. His interest in baseball never waned, as he avidly watched all the Rockies and World Series games on TV. He also loved to watch women’s softball and basketball games. But, his ultimate pastime passion was fishing. Their family vacations and often a quick drive to the State Lakes north of Burlington centered on the search for the “best catch.” Scott was preceded in death by his parents Albert and Mae Crouse, his wife Doris, sister Alberta and brother-in-law Lee Grimm, and sister-in-law Gay Crouse. He leaves to mourn his four children; Scott and Debra Crouse of Burlington, Colorado, Dora King of Parachute, Colorado, Teresa and Wayne Bauman of Limon, Colorado and Mark Crouse of Bethune, Colorado; one grandson Cameron King of Alamosa, Colorado, and three granddaughters Marki, Raena and Mattie Crouse; one sister Patsy and Don Downen of Burlington, Colorado and a brother Barney Crouse of Bethune, Colorado and eleven nieces and nephews.