Lester and Cora Engdahl Memorial Endowed Scholarship
Lester Engdahl lived on his families homestead located on Hell Creek in Garfield County, Montana. At an early age, he began “riding the Montana range” he loved, working in cow camps, lambing, and breaking horses. Cora Forcier attended high school in Broadus, Montana, and graduated as the valedictorian. She earned her teaching certificate at Eastern Montana Normal School (now MSU Billings) and moved to Jordan, Montana, in 1930 to begin teaching at the Hell Creek School. On December 1, 1930, Lester and Cora were married at Miles City, Montana, and made their home on the ranch at Hell Creek. Cora taught school for another year and then decided to stay home to be a mother and care for her family. As longtime sheep ranchers in Garfield County, Lester and Cora’s life was building their ranch, raising sheep, providing for their three children, and being active community leaders in Garfield County. They were partners in everything that needed to be done around the ranch. Lester passed away in 1995; Cora in 2006. In memory of her parents, Arlys Rieger and her husband, Ted, established the Lester and Cora Engdahl Memorial Scholarship Endowment at MSU Billings for students who are graduates of Garfield County High School. The first scholarship was awarded in academic year 2008-2009.
Impact
“By awarding me the Lester & Cora Engdahl Memorial Endowed Scholarship, you have lightened my financial burden, which allows me to focus more on the most important aspect of school, learning. I plan to maintain my 4.0 GPA throughout college, and because of your generous donation, I can focus more on my studying rather than my financial problems. I cannot express how thankful I am to have received this scholarship.” Destiny T., Mathematics major