Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.
Nelson Mandela said upon receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, 1993
Changing the world wasn鈥檛 the goal for Amos Vredenburg (1923-2024) and Eva Lou Graham Vredenburg (1923-2004) when they retired and started building a scholarship fund through the 皇家华人 Foundation in 1987. They just wanted to help deserving Wyoming students complete their NWC educations. Scholarship awards focused on sophomores with financial need and strong grade point averages.
The Vredenburg/Graham Scholarship also honors the legacy of Eva Lou鈥檚 father Herfie Stuart Graham (1886-1968) who moved to Wyoming from Albia, IA as a 22-year-old in 1908. He worked a couple of years as a courier on the Wiley Ditch project before homesteading outside Powell which was then a tent city. Herfie rolled up his sleeves and launched a lifetime of helping build a stable community with strong educational opportunities. He embodied the motto, 鈥淪ervice Above Self.鈥�
Herf focused on developing systems -- irrigation, rural electrification, and public schools. He worked to consolidate several small districts into the Powell consolidated district. As chairman of the Powell School Board he was instrumental in hiring many teachers and administrators.
Eventually he and his wife Nellie retired from the farm and moved to town. But he wasn鈥檛 done with schools. In 1939 he accepted employment as custodian of the newly built high school where he dispensed thoughtful advice to students, teachers, administrators, and board members.
Herf鈥檚 youngest daughter Eva Lou graduated from high school in 1941 and enrolled in the Great Falls MT Business School. She went on to work for a construction company and then for the US Air Corp at an airfield in New Mexico. At wars end, she returned to Powell where she served as R.A. Nelson鈥檚 secretary at First National Bank. Her life changed when she met Amos Vredenburg who was passing through town to visit his sister on his way from Missouri to Oregon. He never left. They married and raised 5 children.
After her death, Amos continued building the scholarship endowment in memory of Herfie and Eva Lou. The three of them believed a good education can enhance an individual鈥檚 quality of life and the likelihood he or she will contribute to the greater good of humankind.
Income from these endowed funds continues to grow and is substantial. To date, 211 students have benefited. Do the math to imagine how many more will benefit in future years from this gift of love and belief in education.
It may be that one or more of these students will change the world.