Peter and Celia Scott: Two Santa Cruzans who danced on the brink of the world – always together

Have something to say? Lookout welcomes letters to the editor, within our policies, from readers. Guidelines here.

Santa Cruz has lost two rugged and resilient pillars from within its political, environmental and academic communities. Physicist, banjo player, environmentalist and avid hiker Peter Scott, who was active in the Sierra Club and the Campaign for Sustainable Transportation, died on Oct. 17 of cancer. He was 91. In January, his life partner of decades, environmental attorney, land-use preservationist, Celia Scott, a former Santa Cruz mayor and councilmember, passed away at 89 of natural causes. Both died at the couple’s Santa Cruz home, a cabin-like setting on Escalona Drive surrounded by a miniature wilderness that both had fostered over many years. 

Celia’s two sons from her first marriage, Roland and Anthony Von der Muhll, and an array of speakers will honor and celebrate their lives at the John R. Lewis college at UC Santa Cruz at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, May 10. The public is welcome. 

Santa Cruz often punches above its weight for a city of 65,000. It is where medical marijuana became a movement yielding legalization in 24 states, a place where the Beach Boardwalks’ Looff Carousel has turned and drawn millions of visitors for more than 100 years and where a world-renowned research university sits shrouded in a redwood forest, perched above a beach town that receives more visitors than the Tower of London or the pyramids at Chichén Itzá. 

Part of our community’s magic is that it is surrounded by thousands of acres of greenbelt lands, a hiker’s paradise, and it is perhaps Celia Scott who is most responsible for this monumental preservation project, which began in earnest in the 1970s. 

Scott was first a city planner in Fairfax, Virginia, after graduating with a master’s degree in city planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. With the passage of the California Coastal Act in 1976 by the state legislature, Scott embarked on what would become her life’s work: preserving and protecting the Central Coast from overdevelopment. 

Celia was a major proponent of the Coastal Act. It was the beginning of the Golden State’s land-preservation story and the California Coastal Commission now acts as the final arbitrator, usually drawing a line in the sand against the overreach of for-profit developers. In addition, while working as a Sierra Club lobbyist, she traveled across California and “developed a love for wild lands, while enjoying river rafting in the Sierra foothills,” according to her younger son, Roland Von der Muhll. 

While Celia was developing some hefty legal land-use chops, professor Peter Scott was teaching physics at UC Santa Cruz (1966 to 1994). He often called his chosen field “natural philosophy” because – as he liked to remind us – that’s what it was known as in Isaac Newton’s time. Scott was part of the initial powerhouse group of the first physics faculty at UCSC. The group also included Ronald H. Ruby, James D. Currin, Bruce Rosenblum, and Michael Nauenberg. Some of their research was groundbreaking and led to a journal article, “Chaotic Rhythms of a Dripping Faucet,” which gained wide recognition. His campus email always remained drip@ucsc.edu. 

While Peter did research, wrote songs and played his banjo, Celia worked to pass legislation in the development of a Santa Cruz greenbelt. This impressive stretch of greenery surrounds the city and university, and is known locally by various names: the Pogonip, Moore Creek Preserve, Wilder Ranch, Gray Whale Ranch and also the more wild urban open space, Lighthouse Field. Her frequent earlier visits to Switzerland and Italy instilled in her a lifelong passion for pursuing sustainable transportation and preserving farmland. This gave her the experience she would later use navigating the contentious political waters of California land-use preservation politics. 

Even more than his research interests, Peter was well-known and loved by generations of undergraduate and graduate students for his patient and supportive mentoring and his enthusiastic and creative approach to teaching. Peter loved designing educational lab experiments, but possibly less well-known about Peter is that in the early 1970s he participated in the Sierra Club campaign to stop The Walt Disney Company’s proposed development of Mineral King, a subalpine glacial valley, and eventually preserve it as part of Sequoia National Park. 

After winning a Santa Cruz City Council seat, Celia later became mayor, thus widening her environmental and political reach. “I first met Celia when she was working on Proposition 20 in 1972, which established the coastal commission,” said former secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency and current state Sen. John Laird, in an email. “And for the next 50 years, I cannot recall a major environmental issue in Santa Cruz that she was not involved in. She will be missed.” 

Former White House chief of staff Leon Panetta represented Santa Cruz in Congress and worked closely with Celia on issues such as offshore oil drilling and obtaining protection status for the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. “She was a great leader for the values of Santa Cruz, including preserving the quality of life and protecting the environment and making sure everyone had a chance to succeed,” Panetta said from his office at the Panetta Institute for Public Policy in Seaside. “I think Celia Scott wanted Santa Cruz to retain its character and beauty.”

Peter had a knack for writing funny educational song lyrics, too, like his friend the folksinger Tom Lehrer. Peter wrote and publicly performed songs to encourage activists. Some of these songs were about preserving the Gray Whale Ranch, securing bike parking in UCSC buildings, and what is probably his best-remembered song, “Dancing on the Brink of the World,” is one he co-wrote with Celia for her victorious 1994 city council campaign. It’s about the San Lorenzo River flowing through Santa Cruz and perhaps best reflects the couple’s lifelong public and private partnership, flowing together as intimate equals. 

Upon retiring, both loved walking in nature, taking hikes in the Sierra Nevada, and singing in choirs. Peter also worked tirelessly on transportation issues with the activist group Campaign for Sustainable Transportation, while Celia was a docent at Año Nuevo State Park. 

Together, Celia and Peter Scott provided over 100 years of love and service to the academic, political, pedestrian and bicycle communities of Santa Cruz County. Their legacy as an environmental protection dynamic duo, and also as uniquely caring and playful individuals, is a powerful role model for future generations of Santa Cruzans.

Chris Krohn is a former Santa Cruz City councilmember and mayor. He directed the environmental studies internship program at UC Santa Cruz for over 20 years. He recently retired.