Engineer was ‘always very positive’

Memorial services will be held for former Laguna Beach Public Works Director Stan Scholl at 10 a.m. April 2 at South Shores Church in Dana Point.

Scholl died peacefully in his sleep March 2 at his Laguna Beach home. His ashes will be scattered off the coast of the city in which he lived for 36 years and worked from 1973 to 1977.

During his employment with the city, Scholl was involved in the construction of Main Beach Park, redesignation of Forest Avenue between South Coast Highway and Glenneyre Street for one-way traffic and the first undergrounding of utility poles. He also tried to help the city acquire the ACT V parking lot in Laguna Canyon.

“I worked with him when he was department head,” said Terry Brandt, who succeeded Scholl. “The things I remember most about him was that he was always very positive, very pragmatic and had a very good sense of humor in dealing with staff and residents.

“He played a very big role in the original reconstruction of Main Beach and in the first [undergrounding] assessment district, which were major improvements for the city.”

In 1977, Scholl took the job of director of general services in Santa Monica, where he worked until 1993, but he continued to live in Laguna Beach.

“We came here when he started working for the city,” said his widow, Polly. “He did a lot for this community.”

Scholl continued to serve the city periodically as a consultant.

“He was very competent and very professional,” City Manager Ken Frank said. “And he was a real gentleman.”

Stan Scholl was born Oct. 21, 1933, in Dixon, Ill., the son of Elton and Ruth Scholl. After graduating from high school, he attended Cornell College in Iowa for one year before joining the Army near the end of the Korean War. He served in Japan, where he learned surveying, which was the start of his engineering career.

When his Army duty ended, Stan Scholl attended the University of Illinois, where he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil engineering.

The family moved to California in 1963 when Stan Scholl was employed by Cal Poly Pomona to teach civil engineering.

He next worked as city engineer for Glendora, before moving to Laguna.

After retiring in 1993, Stan Scholl served as interim city engineer for Inglewood, Culver City, Hawthorne and Glendora. He was instrumental in rebuilding Santa Clarita, where he was working when a large earthquake hit the city.

He was working for the city of Hawthorne the day before he died.

Stan Scholl was also a volunteer missionary on short trips for South Shores Church and the Wycliffe Bible Translators

“Stan was an extremely capable man,” said church staff member Tandy Sullivan. “He served on our building committee for the new sanctuary.

“He went on mission trips and helped us by drawing up plans as we visited various [places] like Mexico, Costa Rica and Haiti and he was just incredible in terms of looking at something and coming up with solutions.”

Stan Scholl also was active with Engineering Ministries International, a Christian ministry that designs facilities that serve poor people in developing countries, including hospitals, orphanages, schools and clean water projects. He used his civil and structural engineering expertise to participate in EMI projects in Kenya, Papua New Guinea, Guatemala, the Middle East and India.

He enjoyed traveling around the world with adventuresome friends, his family said.

Scholl is survived by his sister, Eleanor Burbank of Maryville, Tenn.; his wife, Polly; son, Ed Scholl of Arlington, Va.; daughter, Kathy Greene of Irvine; and five grandsons.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Scholl’s name to South Shores Church, 32712 Crown Valley Parkway, Dana Point CA, 92629.