Bernard Daly's Promise « The enduring legacy of a place-based scholarship

Oregon State University

Much of Bernard Daly’s life seems to have happened despite great odds. He was only five when he and his family left Ireland, landing in Selma, Alabama during the Civil War. When his parents died, he lived with siblings in different parts of the country and somehow found his way into college and medical school before he finally found his home in Lakeview, Oregon where he would spend the rest of his life.

It’s tempting to call Bernard Daly’s life a rags-to-riches story, but to do so would be an incomplete description of his remarkable life and legacy. Daly did come to America as a poor immigrant, and over the course of his life, he became successful and prosperous. However, it is not his financial success that defines his life; instead, it is what he did with his wealth – he invested in the future of youth he would never meet.

As his life seemed to be against all odds, so was the start of the scholarship. Following his death, Daly’s relatives challenged his will and then the state wanted to tax the estate even though it was going toward a charitable purpose. The challenge to the will was overturned in federal court and the state legislature overturned the governor’s veto so that the estate was not taxed, and all the funds could be used for the scholarship. Seemingly against all odds, the scholarship was first awarded in 1922 and has been awarded each year ever since.

And, though it also seems to be against the odds, we’re making a movie about Bernard Daly and his remarkable scholarship. To stay on schedule and do on location filming in Lakeview in May, we need to raise at least 80% of our goal by April 1^st. With two months till our deadline, we’re almost halfway to our goal but still have a way to go. Here’s how you can help.

Make a donation through our GoFundMe web site.
Donate by sending a check made out to: Daly Fund Movie LLC. The check should be mailed to Kathy Boespflug, 10416 W. Rockwood, Boise, ID 83704.
Consider being an investor in the film (minimum $10K). If the film is profitable, investors will receive their initial investment plus a 20% premium and share of profits in proportion to their investment. Please contact me (sam.stern@oregonstate.edu) if you are interested in becoming an investor in the project.

Note: If the film is profitable, 10% of the profits will be given to the Daly Scholarship Fund.

On this day, January 5^th, Bernard Daly died on a train bound for San Francisco where he hoped to be treated by medical specialists. Daly never made it to San Francisco; he died enroute, near Livermore, California at 5:30 A.M. on Monday, January 5^th (yes, it was a Monday then too). On the following Sunday, a crowd of about 700, almost everyone who lived in or near Lakeview attended his memorial service.

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This is the earliest photo I’ve found of Bernard Daly — a good looking young man, not yet 30, with an earnest look about him. The photo was taken in 1885 when he graduated from Ohio Normal University in Ada, Ohio. Daly was attracted to Ohio Normal because of its intent to establish a medical program. Though the medical program never developed, Daly did complete the scientific program with courses in anatomy and physiology. Daly was a good student, he earned high grades and in his last year he taught the anatomy class. Disappointed that Ohio Normal did not offer a medical program, Daly went to Kentucky where he enrolled in the well-regarded University of Louisville Medical School.

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Spent day in Lakeview and night at the Lake County Library a few weeks ago. I was there for the public announcement of the feature length documentary about Bernard Daly and the impact of his remarkable scholarship. Having ridden Oregon Outback Highway 31 by bike twice, I always enjoy the drive to Lakeview from Corvallis. A mixture of memories, beautiful landscape and, as happened on my 2016 cross country bike trip, I came across a herd of cattle on the road near Fort Rock (they seemed more interested in me when I was on my bike).

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Several months ago, I got an email from Kim Waltrip, an established and successful film producer, who wanted to talk with me about making a film length documentary based on Bernard Daly’s Promise. It was a complete out-of-the-blue surprise. I’d always known that it’s a compelling story and many people had told me it would make a great movie but, I never imagined it would happen – it’s happening.

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This month is the 100^th anniversary of the Daly scholarship. It was a hundred years ago in June of 1922, when the Daly Fund trustees met in Lakeview to select the first scholarship recipients. It was a big deal then and it still is.

It’s hard to overstate the uniqueness of the Daly scholarship. Daly’s vision that not less than fifteen students would have all their expenses provided for four years of college was unusual. There was no scholarship like that in Oregon or perhaps the entire country.

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This year is the 100-year anniversary of the first awarding of the Bernard Daly scholarship. I learned about the scholarship in the early 1980s from my OSU colleague Dan Dunham, who grew up in Lakeview and received the scholarship in 1954. The story of Bernard Daly and his scholarship stuck with me and many years later at an OSU alumni gathering I attended while serving as dean of OSU’s College of Education, I met Sue (Ogle) Densmore. When Sue mentioned that she was from Lakeview, I asked about the scholarship and learned that Sue and both of her sisters had been recipients, and so were their parents, Jim and Dorothy Ogle. At the time, I was planning to step down as dean and return to a faculty position before retiring, and I was looking for a research project I could start and possibly work on in retirement. When Sue suggested I go to the annual breakfast her parents hosted at their ranch on Labor Day weekend, I jumped at the opportunity.

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For the first time in a couple of years, our family will come together this next week to celebrate the holidays. We do so with a renewed sense of the preciousness of time together, and also the nearness of tragedy. It’s especially jarring when tragedy occurs in the midst of celebration as it did on Christmas Eve in 1894 when a terrible fire occurred in the community hall on the second floor of the Chrisman general store in Silver Lake. Though it is the deadliest fire to have occurred in Oregon history, until this month it has not been included in the Oregon Encyclopedia, an authoritative and free resource on all things Oregon.

Several years ago, I added an entry on Bernard Daly, and now one on the Silver Lake Fire. Take a look at the entries and while you’re there, check out some of the other entries related to Lake County – Abert Rim, Lakeview, Reub Long, and Paisley Caves. I’m hoping others will be added in the years to come.

My best wishes to all for happy holidays and the new year, the 100-year anniversary of the first awarding of the Bernard Daly scholarship.

Note: Many thanks to Larry Landis, former OSU director of Special Collections and Archives who first encouraged me to write an entry on Bernard Daly for the Oregon Encyclopedia.

Bernard Daly’s will is best remembered for the bequest that created the Daly scholarship. Although not as large, there were other bequests, including one that provided an annuity of $1,200 each year for ten years for the …“… expenses of sick, maimed, or injured patients, residents of Lake County, Oregon, who may be brought to its hospital, and who are unable to bear such expenses; it being my will and desire that they receive the same careful nursing, medical and surgical attention, and the full benefits of such hospital, as other patients in so far as this bequest may allow.”

About the time the support provided by Daly’s bequest ended, the Daly scholarship began to have even greater impact on the Lakeview hospital. Daly scholarship recipients, Connie and Joycelin Robertson, and their younger brother, Louis, all became doctors and returned to Lakeview to practice at the hospital. Over the years, many other Daly recipients have returned to work at the hospital, including Abby (Tracy) Finetti, a 2000 Lakeview High graduate and Daly recipient who began working as an emergency nurse at the Lake District Hospital in 2007.

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In 2010, on my first trip to Lakeview, I made a visit to the school district office, the small gray building with a big sign that reads, “School District No. 7.” On the sign, there is no indication of the of the district name other than the number 7. It’s an anachronism (from the Greek “ana” and “khronos”) meaning against time – something that made more sense the past than in the current time.

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Bernard Daly's Promise

The enduring legacy of a place-based scholarship

Against all odds…

On this day…

Tis the season to be generous… and remember the generosity of Bernard Daly

A day in Lakeview and night at the library

An unexpected very good development…

Bernard Daly’s Promise is 100 years old this month…

A very special new year

Not to be forgotten

Above and beyond

School District No. 7

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