Lifelong servant's will endows
ag scholarship

Dean Gingrich lived his life to serve, and, despite his death, his legacy continues to serve others.

Gingrich left a provision in his will to establish a scholarship at Northwest in his and his wife's names upon their death that benefits agriculture students, primarily in northwest Missouri.

"Dean was all about duty - duty to God, duty to family, duty to country and duty to the community in which he lived," said Bob Gingrich, his nephew.

Gingrich lived his entire life in northwest Missouri's Nodaway County along with his wife, Jean, and his daughter, Barbara. He was a lifelong farmer, except for four years when he served in the U.S. Army. In fact, he was among the first group drafted into the Army from Nodaway County following the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. Although he never attended college, it was well known that he cherished education, hard work and family.

"Some may have faulted him for working too hard, but that is what he was taught by his family with their Pennsylvania Dutch and Puritan roots," his nephew said.

The Dean E. Gingrich and Jean D. Gingrich Scholarship provides an endowment of nearly $435,000 to provide scholarships for agriculture students with financial need who attended high school in Nodaway, Gentry, Worth, Andrew, Holt or Atchison counties in Missouri. If no such student from the geographic area qualifies, then eligibility may be expanded to include students from other locations who are majoring in agriculture.