Gloria Scott is a woman in the Coastal Bend who has not only achieved greatness, but continues to do so at almost 83 years old.
Scott paved the way for little girls of all colors to know that they matter.
"Those three faces represent white, brown and black," she said, looking at the Girl Scouts logo.
Its national symbol became a reality because of her.
"Oh, it was a tough vote,” she said. “It was not an overwhelming vote to do that, but we won."
Scott was the president of the National Girls Scouts Organization in the 1970's -- the first African American to hold that position.
It’s one of her proudest achievements, getting on the national board, one which she used to change the Girl Scouts pin to reflect diversity -- white, brown and black girls.
Its something you don't give a second thought nowadays, but then, it wasn't so easy to get approved when she proposed it.
"So i said ‘OK, are there any other discussions on the issue to change the Girls Scout pin to this?’ ” she said. “All these, my mama and my grandma had this and the other pin. So, finally, (it) came to a vote and it was not a huge ‘yes,’ but we won."
With that win, she moved the needle of equality forward.
Her whole life, Scott has not settled for what's in front of her.
Born in the 1930's, she grew up in Houston in what was called the Third Ward during a time of segregation.
She remembers when the main library in Houston was for whites only.
"I said ‘They wouldn't let black people in this knowledge library? Why couldn't black people?’ "
When it finally became integrated in her senior year, she said she immediately she got her library card and walked every inch of that library
"I said ‘OK, I have made sure that a black person has walked all over this damn library,’ ” she said. “That was my way of being defiant on all these things that have happened to us."
She earned her bachelors, master’s and doctorate degrees, and was president of Bennett College in North Carolina for 15 years, where she met former First Lady Barbara Bush.
Scott sat on the board of an S&P 500 company, and calls prominent people friends -- the late Maya Angelou, and even the Queen of TV herself, Oprah Winfrey.
"I heard you have oprah on your cell, is that true?” I asked.
“Uh-huh,” she said, laughing.
But you would never ever know of her friends in high places, or that Scott has been such a trailblazer just by talking to her.
In an age when everyone posts every inch of their lives, she leads humbly. Quietly.
And at 82 years young, she rarely sits down.
She and her late husband moved to Corpus Christi in the early 2000's and have since called it ‘home.’
She is at Solomon Coles High School every single day, a school she and her late husband literally helped to save.
"I, along with five other people, we all filed a suit against CCISD because they were trying to close Solomon Coles down as a school,” she said. “It was the only school at that time that had let negros go to school."
The fight went on for years, but the verdict was: Solomon Coles school can never be closed.
"Now this is one step to make Corpus Christi diverse, and get all the children of Corpus to understand they can do whatever their minds want, and (get) educated," she said.
Gloria Scott, a South Texas living legend, and an Inspiring Woman of the Coastal Bend.
