Biographical entry: Bo, Scotter and Mary (c. 1927 - 1985)

Born

c. 1927

Died

1 June 1985

Details

Scotter Bo was born on Choiseul in about 1927. When the Second World War ended he was an orphan in his late teens. When the Sasamugga people returned to their village after their wartime retreat into the centre of the island, Scotter returned to the Methodist school at Sasamungga to complete his primary education, but then decided to instead go to work on a plantation at Luti about forty kilometres away. The plantation's owner, Cardon Seton, who had been a wartime coastwatcher, decided to establish a clinic for his labourers and nearby villagers, and paid for Scotter to go to Honiara to take a two-year nursing course. Scotter was bonded to work in the clinic for seven years, which he did, at Luti and Supizae, an island in Choiseul Bay, as a nurse and overseer. In the meantime the first Methodist missionaries had gone to work in the New Guinea Highlands and Scotter wanted to join them. He courted Mary Savukesa from Malevaqa village, initially against her family's wishes, married her, and the couple left for New Guinea in April 1957. Mary was seven months pregnant, and they were based in Mendi when their first son Andrew was born in July. Scotter carried out medical and evangelical work in Mendi and Tari, where leprosy work was a major part of the Mission's health outreach. The Bo's spent eight years in the Highlands, during which time Mary bore three more children. In 1966 the family returned to Sasamuqa, where Scotter became a registered nurse supervisor at the hospital. There was no qualified doctor on Choiseul, and along with Sister Lucy H. Money he handled quite difficult medical procedures. He died of a heart attack on 1 June 1985. (Money 2002a)

Published resources

Book Sections

• Money, Lucy H., 'Scotter and Mary Bo', in Alan Leadley (ed.), Ever Widening Circles: Stories of Some Influential Methodist Leaders in Solomon Islands and Bougainville/Buka, Wesley Historical Society (New Zealand), Auckland, 2002a, pp. 13-17. Details