Hundreds packed into the downtown Hilton Sunday afternoon to share memories and celebrate the life of civic leader and community staple Scott Campbell, who died in early September.
Friends Mark Matthias, owner of Warehouse ’23, and Kim Capeloto, of Riverview Community Bank, spoke about their friend, and made a big show of crumpling up and tossing their scripts aside.
Scripts, they said, weren’t Scott’s style.
Through his work, and his own volition, Campbell served in dozens of local nonprofits and community organizations, from helping with the Northwest Association of Blind Athletes to personally persuading guests at the Humane Society for Southwest Washington’s annual walk and run into adopting dogs.
To hint at his reach, they asked anyone involved in his recent Vancouver City Council campaign to stand. Then those from Waste Connections, where he worked, then anyone on those boards or nonprofits, or anyone who planned on still voting for him in November.
“And if anybody’s not standing now, will anyone that ever had a whiskey or a cigar with Scott Campbell, please stand up,” Capeloto asked.
Almost everyone in the room stood and cheered.
James Scott Campbell died Sept. 7., at 59, due to organ failure as a result of cancer treatment.
He was born in Bozeman, Mont., into a ranching family. He moved to Vancouver in 1985, and worked in industrial and construction management before moving into solid waste management and recycling, and worked for Waste Connections for close to 20 years, where he was its governmental and community affairs director.
He served on boards including the Fort Vancouver National Trust and the Parks Foundation of Clark County, and was an active volunteer for a slew of nonprofit and charitable groups, including the YMCA, Northwest Association of Blind Athletes, the Camas-Washougal Rotary and the therapeutic court for veterans.
Among the projects he was most proud of was Waste Connections’ Christmas Promise program, which helped provide, by the hundreds, bicycles to needy kids.
Campbell’s youngest sister, Ann Jutila, said her brother always loved cars, recalling the toy car tracks he’d set up in the family kitchen. When he got older, he’d terrorize Bozeman with his high school buddies, and developed his taste for whiskey. And he could always be a real rascal, she said.
She shared a story of growing up on the ranch, when he was about 9 and she was 4. They were to drive the truck to somewhere for some chore around ranch, and when they went to turn around, Campbell feigned being unable to drive, saying it was up to her.
She whined in fear, she recalled, as he told her to get going, ditches and bumps notwithstanding, and they made it home safe.
“Of course, Scott was still working the pedals and steering wheel, and I was just holding on,” she said, which she didn’t realize when she then tried climbing onto the big ranch tractor for a spin using her new driving skills, much to their parents’ horror.
“He was an awesome guy, he was larger than life,” she said. “He was taken from us far too soon, and he took a piece of us with him. And he left a piece with us.”
Jutila encouraged the crowd to embrace all those “firsts” they’ll have without her brother in their lives, and to not be afraid to shed a tear or get angry.
He’s free of pain now, and with family, she said.
“Heaven won’t know what hit ’em.”
Campbell is survived by his wife of 32 years, Alicia Campbell; children Todd Williams, Tricia Stevens and Tania Olsen; three grandsons; and siblings Mike Campbell, Pat Campbell, Mary Hamilton and Sheila Ruffalo.
Campbell’s name will remain on the November ballot for city council. Should he still win — he won nearly 55 percent of the vote in a five-way primary election — the city council will appoint a successor.
The family asked any well-wishers to contribute to the J. Scott Campbell Fund at the Community Foundation for Southwest Washington in lieu of flowers.
Campbell, although he shares a name, is not related to The Columbian’s publisher.
