Scott McLean Love

• Job
  1st Lt., US Army

 

Scott McLean Love

1974 - June 7, 2006

Grissom grad killed in Iraq

By PATRICIA C. McCARTER

Ex-teacher recalls Lt. Scott Love's fine talents, personality

A 1992 Grissom High School graduate is one of the most recent casualties of the war in Iraq.

Lt. Scott McClean Love, 32, was killed when a bomb detonated near his vehicle in Ramadi, Iraq, during combat on Wednesday - the same day American forces dropped bombs on a house in Hibhib that killed terrorist mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, leader of al-Qaida in Iraq.

Four years after Love completed a bachelor's degree in film at Florida State University in 1995, he enlisted in the Army's military intelligence program. He completed Arabic linguistics at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, Calif., and was a distinguished honor graduate in his Noncommissioned Officer Academy class.

He was deployed to Kuwait in 2001 and 2005, and his platoon went to Ramadi in May.

Retired Grissom High drama teacher Gail Rodenhauser was surprised to learn where her former student's professional life had taken him, and said Friday she was "absolutely heartbroken" to learn of his death.

Even though she's taught thousands of students and even though she hadn't seen Love since he graduated in 1992, she immediately remembered him.

"He was such a special person and very, very creative in all fields," Rodenhauser said. "He was an excellent writer and excellent actor. Exceptionally bright. He got along so well with everyone, had so many friends. He had such a dry wit, such a dry sense of humor."

Rodenhauser remembered that Love starred in "The Music Man," which was the school's first big musical production, and that it was performed in Grissom's then brand-new auditorium.

She recalled that even though "he'd never danced a bit in his life," Love practiced and rehearsed, and by opening night, "he was lifting the girls and swinging them around."

"He was also in my advanced-level English class and was involved in our literary magazine," she said. "He even won an award.

"What I remember most is what a sweet, sweet-looking young man he was. Such a charming young man. This breaks my heart."

Love's parents still live in Huntsville, but Redstone Arsenal public affairs spokeswoman Lira Fry said they had requested privacy for the time being. She said she doesn't yet know if Love's funeral will be here or elsewhere. The details of his funeral arrangements should be released in the next few days.

Published in The Huntsville Times on 6/10/2006.