Dr. William and Bess Osheroff Memorial Scholarship

Dr. William Osheroff, a highly respected physician who practiced medicine on Grays Harbor for over 30 years, married Bessie Anne Ondov, a nurse working at Queens General Hospital in New York City, on November 27, 1941. During World War II, Dr. Osheroff served as an officer in the Army Air Corps. The Osheroffs moved to Aberdeen at the end of the war, and Dr. Osheroff joined the staff of Grays Harbor Community Hospital. He worked there and at St. Joseph’s Hospital until his death in 1977.

William Osheroff was born in Omaha and grew up in Erickson, Nebraska. He earned his Bachelor of Science and his Masters and Doctor of Medicine degrees from the University of Nebraska. 

A member of the Grays Harbor Medical Association and the American Medical Association, Dr. Osheroff became known on the Harbor as an excellent physician who cared deeply about the community. A general practitioner, he trained to work as a cardiologist and introduced cardiac care services to the Harbor after recognizing that such services were badly needed in the community. Before the technology became commercially available, Dr. Osheroff developed a device for sending EKG tracings over the phone, allowing him to keep better track of his patients’ heart conditions. In 1972, he became a member of the American College of Cardiology.

Like her husband, Bess Osheroff cared deeply about the communities of Grays Harbor and worked to improve the quality of life and health of her neighbors. Born in Jessup, Pennsylvania and raised in Emporia, Virginia, Bess Osheroff became a Registered Nurse through New York City’s Cumberland Hospital School of Nursing. 

 In Aberdeen, her home for over 50 years, she volunteered for the YMCA and the American Medical Association Education and Research Foundation (AMA-ERF), which honored her ten years of service with both State and National Service Recognition Awards. 

Together, Bess and her husband helped organize the first Red Cross Blood Drive on Grays Harbor. Bess continued to organize blood drives for twenty years. William and Bess had a daughter and four sons, one of whom died in 1977. Bess died in November 1996, a month after seeing her son Doug, a Stanford physics professor, win the Nobel Prize in Physics.

While preference will be given to applicants interested in studying science or medicine, the William and Bess Osheroff Memorial Scholarship is open to all applicants who satisfy the general eligibility requirements of the Scholarship Program.