This scholarship, established in 2016 to honor Bob and Sodelbia Busch, is available to graduating seniors who plan to major in Business or Finance and have a GPA of at least 2.5. Past recipients of this award have demonstrated leadership in service to others, strong academic ability, good character, and active participation in their church.
The story of Bob and Sodelbia’s life together began in the summer of 1951. After sharing a car ride to a young adult church picnic with his friend Loren and a young woman named Sodelbia Heade, Bob made sure to sit next to Sodelbia on the way home. Shortly after, during a day trip to Crown Point in the Columbia River Gorge, Bob proposed, and she said yes. They married the following spring and, over the next decades, raised seven children together.
After settling in Grants Pass in 1952, Bob and Sodelbia became deeply involved in community service and at St. Anne’s Church. Bob served for 10 years on the GPD7 School Board and was a founding member of several local organizations, including the RCC Foundation, the GPHS Foundation (now the Redwood Foundation for Education), College Dreams (now Project Youth +), the Rogue River Kay-Cee Corporation, and Yamba Abaana (Help the Children), a Ugandan school sponsorship charity.
In 1964, Bob founded the Redwood Foundation for Education (RFE) and served on its Board of Directors for 50 years. Upon his retirement in 2014, Bob reflected, “I have always been a supporter of education. Over the years, we have awarded millions of dollars to thousands of graduates. Throughout this time, our Board members and volunteers have consistently held an attitude of, ‘Let’s do what we can to make this a better place.’ I retire from JCEF this year with gratitude for the opportunity to contribute to its success.”
