The late Reverend, Father Earl B. Scott was born on July 11, 1919 in Pleasantville, NJ, to the late John H. and Minnie Brown Scott, the eleventh of twelve children. He attended the public schools in Pleasantville, NJ. After high school he matriculated at the State Teacher’s College, Glassboro, NJ and received a Bachelor of science degree in Education. He earned a second baccalaureate degree in Sacred Theology with honors from the Philadelphia Divinity School of the Episcopal Church and a Master of Divinity for the Episcopal Theological School (now Episcopal Divinity School, Cambridge, Mass.).
From 1950 to 1957, Fr. Scott served as the Lay Reader-in-Charge of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, Pleasantville, NJ. On April 27, 1957 he was ordained to the Diaconate in the Diocese of New Jersey and in that same year was ordained to the Sacred Priesthood on November 2, 1957. He served as Vicar of St. Mary’s from 1957 to 1962. In 1962 he became the Vicar of St. Thomas Episcopal Mission, Red Bank, NJ, and became their first rector in 1965, where he remained until he returned to St. Mary’s in 1979.
A very effective and devoted community leader, advocate and activist with a long history of service to the various communities in which he resided, Fr. Scott served as the first Afro-American elected to the Borough Council of Red Bank and served from 1974 to 1977. In 1977 he became the president of the Borough Council.
In addition to being the rector of St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Red Bank, Fr. Scott has served as Dean of the Monmouth Convocation, president of the Monmouth Clericus of Episcopal Priests and headed the Greater Red Bank Council of Churches and the Westside Ministerium. He also served as Chaplain at Riverview Medical Center, Red Bank, NJ, and Monmouth Medical Center, Long Branch, NJ.
From 1967 through 1971, Fr. Scott served as Social Worker for the Monmouth County Community Action Program working with black, white and Spanish families in the Bayshore area. Moreover he served as an educational consultant and trainer of aides for the Head Start Program.
During his tenure in Red Bank , Fr. Scott served also as Chairperson of the Board of Red Bank Community Center, a board member of the Monmouth County Mental Health Association. He served on the Youth Employment Service, Monmouth County Cotillion Committee , on the tutorial and scholarship committees of the local chapter of the NAACP, the Red Bank Men’s Club , Prince Hall Masons and the Union of Black Episcopalians.
On the Diocesan level, Fr. Scott has been active as a member of the Division of Urban Concerns, the Bishop Trial Court, the Major Chapter of Trinity Cathedral, Trenton, NJ, and a former member of the Board of Missions. He had a great impact on the life of the diocese where he became a catalyst to challenge racism in the church and community.
At the Clergy Conference in 1983 he challenged the Diocese of New Jersey on the issue of race by telling the story of exclusion and racism in the Episcopal Church. This led to the establishment of the Diocesan Committee on Racism, of which he was the first chairperson. Moreover he was a founder of the Black Clergy Caucus of the Diocese. It was his inspiration that stimulated the formation of a chapter of the Union of Black Episcopalians in the Diocese of New Jersey. Eight months after his death on August 24, 1984 the UBE chapter was named in memory and thanksgiving for his leadership and service
Written by: Rev. Anna Henderson, 1995
