Marion Lee Crosson Scullin with one of her many favorite hounds, Howard County-Iron Bridge Opal.Marion Lee Crosson Scullin passed away peacefully at her Damascus, Maryland home after a brief struggle with brain cancer on March 5, 2017.
Born March 3, 1943 in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, to a family of huntsmen (father, grandfather, uncles, and cousins), Marion’s future could be said to have been predetermined. At the time she was born, Marion’s father, Albert “Pud” Crosson, was the huntsman for Rose Tree Foxhunting Club, moving to Huntingdon Valley Hounds, then Whitelands Hunt, and concluding his career with Pickering Hunt where, in 1976, he “died in the hunting field of a heart attack after his hounds completed a splendid run, marking their fox to ground.” Inducted into the Huntsman’s Room of the Museum of Hounds and Hunting, Marion’s father was known for breeding a hard-running pack of deep-throated Penn-Marydels.
Marion received an undergraduate degree from West Chester University and a Masters degree in education from Villanova University. While her husband, Roger Scullin, attended veterinary school, Marion taught high school physical education, coaching numerous school sports teams.
Marion and Roger settled in Maryland in the early 1970s, where their daughters, Carter Lee and Carrie Lee, were born. They established a veterinary practice together, and began hunting with the Howard County Hunt Club. Soon they were both whipping-in, and by the late 1970s, as Roger began his career as a Master of Foxhounds, Marion began hers as the backbone of the hunt club, keeper of the stud book, secretary, and many other hats too numerous to list, while raising a family, taking care of the farm, and helping to run the vet practice.
Shortly after the club merged to become the Howard County-Iron Bridge Hounds, Marion suffered a life-threatening, rare, and paralyzing illness known as Guillain-Barré. Making a remarkable recovery, the undaunted Marion was soon back in the saddle, whipping-in, whelping, walking and showing hounds, hosting club functions and tailgates, taking care of family and farm, and helping to develop and grow the Maryland Foxhound Club.
Whipping-in, Marion seemed to intuitively know where foxes would be found, where they would leave the covert, and how they would run. One could note the influence of Huntsman Crosson in both Marion and in the Howard County–Iron Bridge foxhounds over time as they developed a deep and melodic section in the choir.
Although she hung up her spurs in 2009, nothing could keep Marion away from hounds and hunting. She and her daughter Carter founded the Hill & Hollow Bassets, serving as Joint-Masters and sharing the duties as huntsmen, continuing to follow on foot a new but still deep and melodic choir.
Marion’s sporting loves were not restricted to the field, as their many guests aboard their Sea Ray, Out To Pasture, can attest. And while Marion loved the Chesapeake Bay and was a member of the Chesapeake Yacht Club, she also loved the sea. Marion, Roger, and the Out To Pasture roamed the ocean waters from Maine to the Bahamas until their grandson, Dillon Lee, was born. For these last few years, Dillon was Marion’s light, bringing much joy to her and her extended family.
A Celebration of Life service will be held on Friday, March 24, 2017, at 1:00 pm at the Montgomery United Methodist Church, 28325 Kemptown Road, Damascus, MD 20872.
All are invited to the reception, which will immediately follow in the loft of the Howard County-Iron Bridge Hounds, 18821 Windsor Forest Rd, Mount Airy, MD 21771.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Hunt Staff Benefit Foundation at P.O. Box 363, Millwood, VA 22646.
Posted March 18, 2017