Wahlstrom Ford Scholarship

Eligibility: All
Area of Interest: General

Criteria:

General scholarship support to CSC Athletics.

Lee Wahlstrom was born in 1921 and grew up on a farm in Burt County, Nebraska.  After high school graduation in 1939 he enrolled at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.  Being from a poor farm family, he had many jobs during those early college days and lived in a boarding house.
In the fall of 1941 he enlisted in the Navy Air Corps.  Following flight training he received his pilot’s wings and served as a dive bomber in the Caribbean theater, stationed in Florida, Panama, and Columbia, South America. The semester before he enlisted, Lee had met Virginia VanPatten and they were married in Florida in May 1944. Lieutenant Wahlstrom was discharged at the end of World War II in December 1945.
Lee then returned to UNL on the GI Bill and completed his degree in Economics, graduating with honors in 1947. He worked for the Allis-Chalmers Implement Co, for 14 years before purchasing and operating Wahlstrom Ford in Chadron in 1961. 
Lee was very giving of his time and talents, serving on the Hospital Board, Ford Dealers Advertising Board, State of NE Private Industry Council and many other local organizations. Perhaps his greatest love, however, was for Chadron State College.  He served on the CSC Foundation Board for 41 years (1966-2007), serving as President of the Board for many of those years.  A life-long learner, Lee audited classes at CSC well into his 80’s.  Lee and Virginia also participated in “Nebraska Semester Abroad” in 1992.  They received the Distinguished Service Award from CSC in 1993, and the Family Tree Award in 2010.