Yvonne Dial Scholarship

Yvonne Dial Scholarship

_ *Yvonne Dial

Yvonne Dial married her childhood sweetheart, Thomas (Tom) F. Dial, in June of 1960. They attended high school together (Shelley High School) in Shelley, Idaho. Tom feels he owes his success and perseverance in college and his law career to Yvonne’s encouragement, support and hard work. In tribute to her, he established a scholarship in memoriam at Idaho State University (ISU) after her passing in 1980.

In their early married years, Yvonne worked long hours at a drug store in Shelley, for minimum wage (85 cents per hour) to support their household while Tom attended ISU as a pre-law student. The couple could not afford to move to Pocatello, so Yvonne took night classes to improve her typing skills. After working all day, she would go to these classes three to four nights per week. Upon completion, the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (now the Idaho National Laboratory) employed her as a secretary. She worked there until Tom finished his pre-law studies at ISU.

Tom was encouraged and greatly influenced by his professors at ISU, particularly Dr. Joseph A. Hearst, Dr. Cornelius A. Hofman, and Dr. Rosemary Myers. Because of his excellent grades and the strong letters of recommendation from his ISU professors, Tom received a full scholarship at University of Idaho Law School. The faculty at the UI Law School was instrumental in finding employment for Yvonne at the UI Agricultural Extension Office in Moscow, Idaho, where she worked until Tom completed his law studies in 1967.

All things seemed to be going well in Tom and Yvonne’s life. Tom continued to do extremely well in his law studies. With Tom’s scholarship, Yvonne was making enough money to support them. However, they suffered a devastating blow. One day Yvonne’s supervisor contacted him and told Tom he should take Yvonne to the doctor immediately because her face was swollen and she wasn’t feeling well. After a medical examination and tests, they were told
Yvonne had lymphoma and she had one year to live. This diagnosis came near the end of Tom’s first semester and Tom found it hard to study for finals. He wanted to quit to spend whatever time was left with her. But Yvonne, along with Tom’s law professors and his I.S.U. professors Drs. Hearst and Hofman, pushed him to finish what he and Yvonne had worked so hard for.

Tom and Yvonne did go on to 15 more years together (outliving her original prognosis by 14 years). They had two children, Tami & Paul. Both children live with their families in Pocatello and have attended I.S.U. Tom’s present wife, Gail is a professor at I.S.U. When Yvonne passed away in 1980, Tom established the Yvonne Dial Memorial Scholarship Endowment at ISU to honor the hard work, sacrifice and support she gave him throughout his college education and the start of his career. Tom and his wife, Gail, have continued to support this scholarship.

Through this scholarship, Tom and Gail help pre-law students who are attending full-time while their spouses are working to support the household. They want to help needy pre-law students and their spouses who are “pulling the harness together;” students who are maintaining good grades while their spouses are doing their part by providing financially for the household. The scholarship was first awarded in the spring semester of 1981.There have been more than 22 recipients of the award.

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