Mary Beth Sturgis Memorial Scholarship

Mary Beth Sturgis was born July 17, 1931 in Missouri and moved to Richland in 1943. She graduated from Richland (Columbia) High School in 1949 and then attended Kinmon Business College in Spokane, graduating with a degree in secretarial studies. She then returned to Richland and had a long career with General Electric Company who was the prime contractor for the Atomic Energy Commission at Hanford.

Mary Beth had no children of her own, but realized the need for higher education to succeed in the world. She established the Mary Beth Sturgis Memorial Scholarship to support deserving young adult students at Columbia Basin College. After a five-year battle with cancer, Mary Beth died in Richland on October 19, 2006.