Carrie Beth Lutin Scott, who turned 60 on January 15, passed away at her Pacific Palisades home in the early morning March 14. It was where she wanted to be, surrounded by her family, looking out her window as the rising sun spread its light across the canyon.
Carrie grew up in Encino and often told the story of how Michael Jackson’s family lived around the corner, and how she met Ringo Starr at a neighborhood party.
She attended Birmingham High School, graduating a semester early in 1976, and started immediately at UC Santa Barbara.
Carrie transferred to the University of Colorado Boulder, where she graduated in 1980 with a bachelor’s degree in communications.
During her junior year she wanted to do a semester at sea. Carrie asked her father if he would pay for it. He replied, “How much would that cost?”
“Around $9,000,” she said. Her father told her she’d have to earn it herself. Carrie went on Hollywood Squares and won not only $15,000, but also a car and trailer! She then went back to her father and negotiated extra spending money for the trip.
Her negotiating skills served her well in her 20 years of selling advertising space for the automotive industry. Her first year she was the top salesperson out of a 120-nationwide sales team.
Carrie’s husband Michael describes their relationship as a“great love affair.” Both in their late twenties and living in Southern California, they were on the same bus in Washington, D.C., in the spring of 1985. Carrie and her mother were there to lobby for a Jewish mission, and Michael was going to attend a wedding.
Carrie spotted him, got out of her seat and walked towards him. Michael looked up from his newspaper and saw a girl in a bright blue dress heading his way. He remembered thinking, “Oh boy, here comes trouble!” They were engaged three months later and married on June 21, 1986.
They enjoyed traveling to faraway places and honeymooned in Papua New Guinea, where they spent their time in the Southern Highlands with the Huli Wig Men, an indigenous tribe of the Hela Province.
The couple moved to a house on Chautauqua Boulevard in Pacific Palisades in 1991, which was soon filled with three children. Carrie was the kind of mother who made sure their home was always an open door to pool parties, cookouts on the barbecue and pizza oven, birthday parties, prom parties, Boy and Girl Scouts, fundraisers, Friday night Shabbat and Sunday night neighborhood dinners.
Carrie was active in the community: she was involved in Kehillat Israel’s early childhood development program, served on the Southern California board of Birthright Israel Foundation, the board of the University of Colorado, Boulder Parent Fund and chaired the United Jewish Fund Automotive Division.
Another beneficiary of her energy was Canyon Charter Elementary, where she organized the Cinco de Mayo Fiesta, pledge drives, magazine drives, beautification efforts and served as a room mother.
She was always the first to volunteer to drive field trips and as her children went on to attend Archer, St. Matthew’s and Carlthorp, and then to high school at Harvard-Westlake and Palisades Charter High School, Carrie supported sports teams, musical productions and arts programs.
There was nothing Carrie liked better than nurturing her existing friendships and making new ones. As their children became young adults, she and Michael moved to Alma Real Drive, into a home they built that was specially designed for entertaining and enjoying friends and family.
In the past few years, Carrie made new friends through paddle tennis at the Bel-Air Bay Club, and won a Mahjong tournament a week before her passing.
On Wednesdays, she could be found stuffing and stitching Dollies as a founding member of Dollies Making A Difference. Carrie was an avid skier, scuba diver, tennis and paddle tennis player, hiker, photographer and traveler.
Her life ended way too soon and we will miss her laughter and big smile. In our hearts she will remain our vibrant, slightly irreverent, fun-loving, fiercely loyal, persistent, generous and beautiful friend.
Carrie leaves behind her beloved husband of 32 years, Michael Scott, and their three children Rachel, Zachary and Shoshanna, as well as her parents Evy and Martin Lutin, and her sister Robin Lutin.
Donations in Carrie’s name may be made to a charitable foundation: “Team Carrie — Carrie Strong Foundation” at the following link: https://givebox.com//1154.
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