Holyoke, MA
December 18, 2010
David Scanlin died at home surrounded by his family on December 18th at the age of 75. He was born in Towanda, PA to the late Paul J. and Clare (Kernan) Scanlin. David was raised in Elmira, NY. He entered the order of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, Eastern Province, as a teenager and spent 26 years in the community. Following his ordination to the priesthood in 1963, he received his doctorate in philosophy at St. Louis University and taught philosophy to scholastics for many years at the Oblate College in Washington, DC. He later worked in parish ministry in Lowell, MA and Brattleboro, VT. After receiving a master’s degree in family counseling in 1981, David spent the next 34 years working in Western Massachusetts in the field of human services. Immediately following the de-institutionalization order of Judge Tauro in 1976, David served for many years as Executive Director of Community Homes for Children in Berkshire County. He later worked as Director of Residential Services at Brightside for Families and Children.
He retired in 2008 after having spent almost 20 years as executive director of Abilities Unlimited of Western New England, now part of The Carson Center for Human Services in Westfield. David is survived by his wife, Patricia (Bouchard); sons Matthew and Andrew; daughters Maureen and Kathleen; siblings Ann Pryslopski (John), Robert (Helen), Eugene (Linda) and Timothy (Dorothy); sisters-in-law Mary (Collins) Bouchard, Mary (Bouchard) Jacques, and brother-in-law, Paul Jacques; 22 nieces and 12 nephews.