Scott McDermid

October 16, 1948 – October 11, 2025

On Saturday, October 11, time ran out on Scott McDermid, and he bowed off the planet with few regrets. His was a good and generally happy life.

He’d been living in the veterans’ care facility in Reno, the last couple of years having been tough as his body began to show the wreckage of his several occupations as a boomer. He’d mined, breaking in as Al Pratti’s hose tender, logged, commercial fished, and drove truck, working from Alaska, locally and Fort Bragg.. If there was work to be had, he chased it, enjoyed it, and was good at it.

He’d been born to “Mac” and Claire McDermid. Mac was a lifelong educator, finishing college following World War II, where he’d been an infantry captain. Claire worked forever with Shirley Snider at the Ruffled Goose, but was better known for her bird rescues. Scott continued that tradition, to the delight of a blue jay or two, but to the horror of those fond of clean and tidy homes.

Scott attended high school in Loyalton to play football after his parents moved to Downieville where Mac was summoned as an educational trouble shooter.

Following high school, an altercation with the powers-that-be resulted in a judge concluding Scott’s respect for authority would be improved by a stint in the Marine Corps. The judge proved to be mistaken.

Like combat vets forever, Scott did not come back from his Viet Nam tour unscathed. “Once you’ve scraped someone’s insides off your outsides, you’re never the same,” he noted. Although Scott believed the war was “bloody and stupid,” he remained close to those with whom he served, creating a lifelong friendship with the “Six Pack” of fellow artillerymen.

Scott was most certainly irascible, but kind hearted, very loyal to friends, and fond of all animals. He gave the world a good go, but as always, it got even.

Scott is survived by his brother Patt’s children, Maire, Charles, and Riley, his former partner and cherished friend Cheryl Durrett of Allegheny, daughter Jennifer Madsen of Iowa, and several close friends in and around Sierra , Humboldt, and Mendocino Counties.