Scott John Hootman, 67, of Eau Claire, died March 6, 2020 with his wife and daughters by his side. God called his magnificent soul home after a swift battle with brain cancer.
Scott was born on July 31, 1952 to John and Carol Hootman in Milwaukee. He graduated from Appleton West High School and from UW-Eau Claire. He was a collegiate gymnast and member of Sigma Tau Gamma fraternity at UW-La Crosse. He married June Dzienkowski on May 5, 1979, and they had two beautiful daughters. He was a devoted husband, father, and family man. Professionally, Scott worked as a counselor in Eau Claire, as family services manager and director of Head Start in Chippewa Falls, and at Hutchinson Technology. He lived his dream when he opened his own business building instruments as a full-time luthier.
As a third generation violin maker and wood worker, Scott was dedicated to every detail of his craft and driven to innovate in his methods. He had a delightful, wry sense of humor, a robust sense of honor and responsibility, and was knowledgeable in a wide variety of topics ranging from physics to spirituality, philosophy, math, and nature. He cared deeply, thought profoundly, acted compassionately, and lived his Christian faith.
He is survived by his loving wife of 41 years, June; two adoring daughters, Mariah (Chad) Ervin of Appleton, and Katie Hootman of New York City; three precious grandchildren, Cambria, Macy, and Hayley Ervin; his father, John Hootman of Altoona; sister, Bonnie (Jeff) Fisher of Altoona, and many nieces, nephews, brothers-in-law, and sisters-in-law. He was preceded in death by his mother, Carol Hootman; and mother- and father-in-law, John & Toots Dzienkowski. Services are canceled and will be postponed until a later date.
Hi June. My deepest sympathies to you and your family in the loss of Scott. I don’t recall that I ever met him. But he was a good-looking guy and obviously a very nice guy. Because my lady friend. Kathy, recently underwent hip replacement surgery, until I learned it had been postponed I was planning to attend the funeral service alone on Saturday. Hopefully, when it is held both she and I will be able to attend it together. In the meantime, take good care of yourself, use caution, and don’t let the Coronavirus or anything else affect the health of you or any of your loved ones. Best wishes always. Terry
I am so sorry, and saddened, to hear of Scott’s passing, although I knew him only by telephone and emails.
I live in the Pittsburgh area (Wexford, PA) and found Scott online while researching a violin I purchased here around 2014. As it turns out, my violin was made by his uncle Roy “Hooty” Hootman in the 1950s in Ambridge, PA. Scott was excited to hear about the violin as he had no examples of his Uncle Roy’s work. So, Scott and I traded violins…He got the Roy Hootman violin, and I got Scott’s handmade Chanot style violin #93.
I understand that Scott gave the Roy Hootman violin to his father (Roy’s brother) for Christmas that year.
I remember that Scott was so generous with his time in answering a bunch of my questions about his violin and violin’s in general. I still have and enjoy my Scott Hootman #93 violin and I’ll remember him by it.
Ken Interval, Wexford, PA