Warren Philip Scarrah

Warren Philip Scarrah, 85, a longtime Bozeman, Montana resident and a Butte (Montana) Rat to the core, earned his angel wings on March 13, 2021.



Warren was born on April 29, 1935 in Billings, Montana to Philip and Evelyn (Thomson) Scarrah. He attended Catholic schools in Butte and Billings, graduating in 1953 from Butte Central High Boys School (now Butte Central Catholic High School).



In his sophomore year, he asked Patsy McDonald to one of the Friday night Central High School mixers, and it was the beginning of a loving relationship that lasted seventy years.



Following high school, Warren enrolled at Montana State College (now Montana State University) in Bozeman, where he earned a B.S in Chemical Engineering in 1957. On August 24, 1957, Warren and Patsy married at St. Patrick’s Church in Butte, Montana and set out for their first adventure: Graduate school at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, where Warren earned his M.S. in Chemical Engineering the following year. For the next 12 years, Warren worked in industry in California, Montana and Idaho before making a midlife decision to return to the textbooks and labs at Montana State University (MSU), where he earned a Doctorate in Chemical Engineering in 1973.



Although he enjoyed research, Warren really wanted to teach. He taught at the University of North Dakota (Grand Forks) for four years before returning to MSU where he taught from 1977 until retiring in 1997. While at MSU, he was actively involved in promoting education and served as a board member and chairman of the State of Montana Board of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors. He also served as the Chairman of the MSU Faculty Council.



Warren published several articles in scientific journals on his research over the years and developed and patented the Q-SEVOP Process, a Quick-Start Evolutionary Operation to “allow operators to identify the variable settings that result in progressively higher yield or throughout.” He was invited to teach a course on his patent as the 3M McKnight Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Minnesota, Duluth.



Warren was a renaissance man, who, with his loving wife Pat, was a member of the Bozeman Ballroom Dance club and the Grand City Singers of Surprise, Arizona. He was in the Chord Rustlers (American art form of barbershop music) in Bozeman and Surprise, Arizona. Warren was a lifelong member of the Knights of Columbus and the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks (BPOE, which dad always told us stood for the Best People On Earth!).



Warren loved music, travel and reading. He loved playing his banjo and harmonica (not at the same time!), but his greatest love was his family, spending time with them camping, skiing, fishing, telling stories about growing up in Butte and taking rides in his Dad’s 1949 GMC truck. He was a great storyteller, and a wonderful listener.



Warren built his life on this quote by Henry James: “Three things in human life are important. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. And the third is to be kind.”



Warren was preceded in death by his parents, Philip and Evelyn Scarrah, his infant son, Joseph Philip, and infant daughter Margaret Mary.



He is survived by his amazing wife Pat Scarrah; daughters Kathie Scarrah, Terry (Steve) Dysart and Patty Scarrah; grandson Killian (Christa) Alston; and great grandsons, Kylen, Bridger and Beckett Alston. Warren is also survived by numerous nephews, nieces and cousins.



A socially distanced funeral Mass will be held Friday, March 19, 2021, at 10 a.m., with a viewing at 9:30 a.m. at Resurrection Parish in Bozeman. For those unable to attend, please join us on the live stream at http://www.resurrectionbozeman.org/livestream.html. Burial will take place at Sunset Hills Cemetery in Bozeman. In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that donations in Warren’s name be made to Butte Central Catholic High School, 9 South Idaho Street, Butte, MT 59701, or the Cancer Support Community Montana, 102 South 11th Ave, Bozeman, MT 59715.