Scot Cairns was born April 9, 1963, to Tom and Sharon Cairns at St. John's hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Scot likes to joke that he was raised on Route 66 (11th Street). The home he grew up in was just off 11th & Mingo, Reed Elementary and Lewis & Clark Junior High were nearby, he graduated in 1981 from East Central High School at 11th & 122nd East Avenue, his college years were spent at The University of Tulsa at 11th & Harvard and, of course, the family home is a block from 11th & Yale.

In high school, Scot was on the East Central swim team. For years, his records for breaststroke hung in the swim center. Growing up he tried his hand at most every sport. We have a cute collection of Scot in soccer, baseball, football, and basketball uniforms.

Scot and his best friends were in Boy Scout Troop 274. In the summer, Dudley Jackson, Kent Sanmann, Jay Raines and other members of the troop would go to Camp Garland for camp and also float the Illinois River. On those float trips, they camped for free in someone's field where they fixed scrambled eggs with grasshoppers one day. The boys fished at Horsehead Bend, went caving at Devil's Den, camped at the Zink Scout Ranch for Jamboree, and took a trip to the Washita Mountains — camping along the Talimina Drive.

In high school and college, Scot held various jobs including working at the counter at Dairy Queen, hauling fertilizer for their neighbor's company, being a salesperson at Radio Shack, assisting an electrician, and working construction. He held the construction job when he first started dating Leslie and came home one day with plans to take a gun the next (mumble, mumble, copperheads, haybales). After the two married, Scot did IT and coding contract work for Burtek (flight simulators) and Amoco. From 1989 to 1998 he worked in IT at Phillips Petroleum, and then a former TU professor recruited him to move to WorldCom in April of 1998 (WorldCom/MCI/Verizon). His job morphed into cybersecurity where he became somewhat of a rock star. He worked with a vendor that was thrilled when Scot perfected their security product. It's now referred to as "Scot-scan" in his professional circle.

One of Leslie's former co-workers who ran the computer lab when Scot was at TU has a fun tale to tell. She referred to Scot as the original "hacker." Back in the day, when college computer coursework was due, they punched cards which were time-stamped. When Scot was in her computer class, he wrote code that fudged the turn-in time on his homework when he was running late. Eventually he would be paid to hack, retiring from cybersecurity in 2025 from Verizon after 28 years.

In December of 1986, Leslie and a friend were shooting pool at an apartment complex Christmas party when two cavalier young men arrived and wanted the table. The girls made them win it (not hard) and then told them they had to stick around to meet another friend, Dianna. One of the gentlemen looked a lot like actor John Schneider — her crush — and they wanted to introduce them. Well, it ended up the roads were bad and Dianna didn't get there in time for the party. Scot Cairns was stuck with Leslie. Their courtship included a lot of fishing and shooting pool. The first few years they played in a local pool league, racking up many trophies. Scot and Leslie even placed second in a citywide mixed doubles tournament.

Scot took immense pride in his children, Andrea, Michael, and Amy. He couldn't have asked for a better daughter- and son-in-law and loved to boast about all five of "our kids" and their achievements. Although a true homebody (and workaholic), they did pull Scot away for trips to Alaska, Hawaii and fall vacation trips around the region.

Family dinners were where Scot shined. After Scot and Leslie took a cooking class in Italy in 2011, Scot was determined to bring that magic back home. He designed a dream kitchen (based on that Italian restaurant kitchen) — a space where he cooked with passion, flair, and the confidence of a master chef. His favorite hobby by far was cooking, but he also enjoyed 3-D printing, beekeeping, gardening (banana trees), working on the swimming pool, playing computer games, shooting pool, making sausage and napping with cats.

Scot is survived by his wife Leslie Cairns; his children Andrea Cairns, Michael Cairns (Katie Taylor) and Amy Finley (Josh Finley); his mom Sharon Cairns and sister Janet Cairns — who will all miss him dearly.