Dolores Batenhorst Keating Memorial Scholarship Announced

West Holt Medical Services Foundation began managing a memorial fund in 2010 established in the memory of Dolores Batenhorst Keating, one of Atkinson’s most caring residents. Dolores was born in Stuart, graduated from Stuart High School and lived her entire adult life in Atkinson.

She worked for over 25 years as a Registered Nurse at West Holt Memorial Hospital. Dolores was married to John Keating for 56 years. They had eight children, Mary Rose Schaaf, Maureen Tsuchiya, Phillip Keating, Mark Keating, Patrick Keating, James Keating, Matthew Keating and Gerard Keating.

Dolores Keating was a strong supporter of local, high-quality medical care, and her family is honoring her memory by encouraging local students to help fulfill her dream by pursuing a medical degree.

The memorial fund, with generous contributions from both the family and Dolores’s many friends, currently totals over $47,263.46 and is managed by the West Holt Medical Services Foundation. Each year the annual interest earned from the fund will be utilized to provide three scholarships of $1,000 each to Holt County residents pursuing a degree in the medical field who meet the following criteria:

• Applicant must be a high school graduate of a school located in Holt County, Nebraska and the applicant must have completed high school (GED is acceptable) at the time of submitting the application
• Applicant is currently attending college pursuing a degree in a medical field
• Applicant must be a legal resident of Holt County, Nebraska
• Previous awardees are not eligible

The Keating family will subsidize the scholarship until the memorial fund is self supporting and the family has set a goal to grow the memorial fund to $100,000 with the support of the community that knew and loved Dolores for many years. They are challenging those with a dream for local healthcare to contribute to this fund and help Holt County retain its current healthcare services, grow new services, and keep local medical talent here at home.

The Scholarship Application Packet is available from the West Holt Medical Services Foundation by visiting their website at www.westholtmed.org and clicking on the Foundation tab. You may also call the Foundation Director at 402-925-1956 for more information. Application deadline is postmarked date on or before December 15, 2015.