Shepherd, Harold and Helen Memorial Scholarship in Agricultural Economics

Harold Shepherd was born May 16, 1899 in Hillsboro, Ohio. His father was a U.S. Custom’s inspector, and when Harold was 5 years old the family moved to Everett, Washington and later to Seattle. He grew up and attended elementary and high school in Seattle. He enlisted in the U.S. Army and served in France during World War I. He returned after the war and went to Whitman College in Walla Walla where he majored in economics. He worked on ranches around Walla Walla to earn money to support his way through school. At Whitman College he met Helen Morris from Pomeroy, Washington. Helen was born in 1903 in Pomeroy and her father owned the Bank of Pomeroy and also had farmland in the area. After college Harold operated a paint store in Seattle and Helen went to law school at the University of Washington. They met again in Seattle and were married. They lived in Seattle for 4 years, but made frequent visits to Pomeroy because Helen was the only child of her parents who lived there. Her father encouraged them to move to Pomeroy where Harold took up farming in 1937 on some of his father-in-law’s land and additional land that he and Helen acquired. He farmed for 40 years and both Harold and Helen retired to live in Pomeroy.

Award Requirements

The distribution from this fund shall be used to award one or more scholarships to students in any area of agricultural economics. This includes production economics, farm management, agricultural marketing, agricultural finance, agribusiness, and natural resource economics. Selections are to be based on academic and need criteria with the principal weight being given to academic performance.  It is expected that students must have a B or better average to qualify for consideration for scholarship support from the fund. Eligible applicants are any students in agricultural economics from Walla Walla, Columbia, Garfield, and Asotin Counties with preference to students from Garfield County.