Dave Scott ’50

On a hot summer day in August 1946, Davis “Dave” Scott walked across campus from his dorm room in Langan to audition for the Grinnell College band.

The young French horn player from Mendota, Illinois, was more than a little intimidated. The windows were wide open in the old music building, says Scott, “and I heard this beautiful music coming out, and I literally got cold feet. I thought, ‘I can’t play the horn that good,’ so I turned tail and went back to Langan and stuck my horn in the closet.”

Scott went on to have a successful career — both at Grinnell and then as a speech pathology professor, retiring from Minnesota State University, Moorhead — but he rarely touched his French horn.

Nearly six decades later at age 80, Scott decided to give horn-playing another shot and joined the Fargo-Moorhead Golden Notes Band for seniors. Today at age 95, he belongs to three bands. With practices weekly and gigs every other week, music keeps Scott busy.

“When I picked up the horn again, I regretted all of a sudden that I didn’t go into the music building at Grinnell and try my best,” Scott says. “For the past 15 years, music has been a big part of my life.”