Scott M. Powers

On August 25, 2021, Scott M. Powers of Fort Meade passed away at the age of 60.  Born in Jacksonville, Texas, Scott graduated from Westbury High School in Houston in 1979.  Four days later he joined the U.S. Navy and proudly served his country for 24 years as a cryptologist and specialized in the analysis of target communication systems.  Scott obtained his Bachelor of Science degree from Excelsior College. He was deployed to tours in Beirut, Lebanon; Sarajevo, Bosnia; Africa and Central America.  While stationed in Spain, he met his beloved wife Maria Dolores Powers and had two wonderful children, Daniel M. Powers and Rebecca L. Powers. He officially retired as a senior chief petty officer on July 31, 2003, and his last duty station was the National Security Agency at Fort Meade, as the deputy branch chief for the Middle East desk. Scott later worked for OptumServe for over 7 years and has served as the 508 and QMO expert on several Federal programs. His current role was the Section 508 Standards subject matter expert for the Veterans Administration Community Care Network (VA CCN) where his primary focus was ensuring deliverables are designed so that those with disabilities are able to perform the same as their non-disabled peers.

Scott lived a life of service, both in the military and the private sector.  In his own words, he stated “it was about protecting and helping those who cannot help themselves…there’s no greater feeling at the end of the day when I know someone is better off in life because of what you did for them.”  It was in Scott’s nature to be giving and he supported the Wounded Warrior Project, the United Service Organizations (USO), St. Jude’s Children Hospital, along with many other charitable organizations.  An animal lover, Scott was rarely seen without his loyal companion Luna, a lab mix, by his side, as well as his daughter’s German Shepherd Zuko.  Stormy, the family bird, was often on his shoulder and he even loved the family’s “hateful cat” Nala. Scott also enjoyed fishing, metal detecting, and killing zombies.

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
PO Box 1893, Memphis TN 38101-9950
Tel: 1-800-805-5856
Web: http://www.stjude.org/

Wounded Warrior Project
P.O. Box 758517, Topeka KS 66675
Tel: 1-877-832-6997
Web: http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/

United Service Organizations
PO Box 96860, Washington DC 20077-7677
Tel: 1-800-876-7469
Web: http://www.uso.org