Scott, Lavinia, 1907-1997

Dates

• Existence: 1907 - 1997

Biography

Lavinia Scott was born in Yankton, South Dakota, in 1907. After graduating from Illinois College in Jacksonville, Illinois, in 1927, she taught for two years in Harvard, Illinois. She spent the next two years in Christian Education work at the United Congregational Church in Bridgeport, Connecticut, then entered Yale University, where she earned an M.A.

In 1932, Scott was sent to South Africa as an educational missionary by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (later renamed the United Church Board for World Ministries).

After briefly studying Zulu, Scott taught for three years at Adams College (then known as Amanzimtoti Institute), mainly in the teacher training department. In 1936, she became principal of Inanda Seminary, a girls' boarding high school, where she remained until 1969. Inanda was one of the few mission schools to escape takeover by the South African government in the 1950s, becoming a private school supported by the United Church Board for World Ministries and the United Congregational Church of Southern Africa.

Throughout her career, Scott continued her education, studying for brief periods at the University of Wisconsin, Harvard, Yale, and the School of Theology at Claremont, California. In 1954 she was granted an honorary L.H.D. by Illinois College.

Scott left Inanda in 1969 to teach at the Federal Theological Seminary in Cape Province, South Africa. Since her retirement in 1974, she has resided in Claremont, California.

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