Obituary of Jane Anne Scott

Jane Sellars Scott passed away peacefully at her home on January 31, 2021 at age 71 after a courageous, quick battle with lung cancer.

She graduated from St. Anne’s School in Charlottesville, Virginia and Stratford College. As a homemaker, she loved entertaining and spending time with friends and family in Burlington, Beech Mountain and Nags Head.

She was a member of the North Carolina delegation to the 1980 and 1984 Republican National Convention where she proudly supported Ronald Reagan, a member of the National Institute of Health’s Heart, Lung, and Blood Advisory Board and the St. Anne’s-Belfield School Alumni Board, and chair of The Burlington Day School’s annual auction and Parents Committee. She was awarded the Order of the Long Leaf Pine by Governor Jim Martin.

She worked for Congressman Howard Coble for 20 years. First on the campaign staff and later on the congressional staff. She took a sabbatical from Team Coble to work for the Bush-Cheney 2000 campaign coordinating scheduling and press duties for the three debates.

She started a second career with the United States Department of State Foreign Service Office. She served admirably for a decade earning the Secretary’s Career Achievement Award and the Meritorious Honor Award for her work with President Bush and Obama, Secretary Clinton and Kerry. Her posts included Denmark, Washington, D.C., China, Laos, East Timor, Iraq and the United Kingdom.

She retired in 2014 and returned home to Burlington where she served as President of the Century Book Club, Town and Country Garden Club, the Nine O’Clock Social Club and The Topper Club. She was honored and humbled to be chosen as a Deacon at First Presbyterian Church in Burlington.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Dr. Carl Murray Sellars and Aetna Bryan Sellars and is survived by her son, Donnell Everett Scott IV of Burlington, and his wife Tracy Linville Scott. Her proudest accomplishment was being JJ to her two grandsons, Wyatt and Coleman.

The family would like to thank the Doctors and Nurses at the Duke Cancer Center and her many caregivers and friends.

The service will be held at a later date at First Presbyterian. In lieu of flowers, please send memorial donations to The Burlington School Endowment Fund, 1615 Greenwood Terrace, Burlington, NC 27215 or St. Anne’s-Belfield School, 2132 Ivy Road, Charlottesville, VA 22903. 

Walker’s Funeral Home of Mebane is serving the Scott Family.