Scott Mullette Obituary
On Thursday, January 5, 2023, Scott Mullette passed away suddenly at the age of 46 as the result of a seizure. Scott was born on September 24, 1976, in Bozeman Montana to Elizabeth (Betty) and Larry Mullette.
A shy child, after moving to Billings in 1990 he started coming out of his shell and joined the middle school choir. His love for music started growing exponentially. In high school he, his cousin Tim Mullette, and some friends formed a band. They competed in talent shows and then in public venues. Scott played guitar and wrote songs that they would perform although some remained very private as his confidence was slower developing. After graduation, some of the band members moved to Denver hoping to be able to do more with their musical talents. They were able to get time in a recording studio to get some of their music recorded professionally.
During the times Scott lived in Denver he worked at several jobs. He did customer service for companies like CompuServe, WOW, AOL, and BMG Record Club, and another, his favorite, which provided help and technical support to teachers. One of his co-workers there, who became a good friend, helped Scott expand his knowledge of programming.
During a later period living in Denver, he worked for a regional airline as a fueler. He loved working with and learning about the planes. Later he worked for Hertz at the airport doing the rental returns. He really enjoyed getting to drive the luxury and sports cars. Driving was a passion that he never got tired of.
While in high school, he became good friends with an exchange student from Finland. This led him to become an exchange student himself, and he spent a semester in the Netherlands. His interest in travel, especially to Europe, really grew. The following year his family hosted an exchange student, Christine, from Leipzig, Germany. Their friendship grew, leading him to move and work in Leipzig. Although it was difficult to be allowed to work there, as well as hard to find jobs, with the help of Christine, her family, and friends, he was able to find some smaller jobs or physical labor that others didn't want to do. While in Germany he was lucky to be able to live with Christine's family and he became very close to her parents, sister, and to a one-of-a-kind grandmother. This grandmother taught him so much about life in eastern Germany that most of us did not have a clue about. He took classes at the university, primarily to improve his German and to meet others. As is often the case, the locals wanted to use him to help themselves improve their English. From then on, he was always wanting to return to Germany and to go places he hadn't yet visited.
Although he had experienced seizures since childhood, while in Denver his mental and physical health issues increased. He started having more seizures which resulted in multiple fractures to his spine. Anxiety and depression became difficult to manage, and he moved back home to Billings. While the medical professionals were able to get more control of the seizures, the pain from the spinal fractures continued to increase. The combination of the physical and attendant mental issues made it next to impossible to get and keep a job. In the spring of 2004, a Bichon named Riley joined the family. Scott mentioned many times that Riley had saved his life multiple times. Riley left us after 17+ years in the fall of 2021. Scott missed him greatly.
Partly as a distraction, but more for the love of the sport, Scott began attending all the Billings Bulls hockey games. He also became friends via social media with some players. As a result, he was able to become a goal judge. While this was stressful, he loved being able to watch the game close-up, even though there were times he had to rule against his favorite team. There were also the times he came home expressing the fact that some of the paid referees were "idiots". Scott was extremely disappointed when the Bulls franchise folded. He was looking forward to the new hockey organization that was coming but had heard that effort had failed.
After moving back to Billings, Scott was able to get all his healthcare coordinated so that he could get better care in dealing with all that he was going through. Even with being shy, he was willing to appear in a television commercial for one provider detailing a new service they were providing. That service was something that helped him tremendously for the few years that he had remaining.
At the time of Scott's passing, he was engrossed in organizing his music collection. He wanted to create a directory of the thousands and thousand of songs he had on hundreds of CD's. This was an almost overwhelming project, but he would not stop.
Scott was preceded in death by his brother Doug, his paternal grandparents William and Dorothy Mullette, his maternal grandparents Kenneth and Jane Colman, step-grandmother Marion Kirwan Colman and his best friend Riley.
Scott is survived by his parents, sister Michelle Mullette, his new puppy Chloe, and several aunts, uncles, and cousins.
A gathering to get together and share memories of Scott will be held this summer when conditions are better for safe travel.
