Sharples: Wallace & Ersel Webb Sharples Memorial Scholarship
Established by Wallace Sharples
Awarded to an education major with a minimum 2.5 GPA, with financial need, who plans to teach in a rural community.
Bio of Wallace & Ersel Sharples
Wallace was born May 15, 1909, in northern Montana to Judson F. and Ella Bosley Sharples. He was raised on a ranch and went to high school until his junior year when he quit to help his dad who was a potato and wheat farmer. Wally’s wife to be, Ersel Webb, moved West to attend the University of Montana, Western in Dillon in 1927. After her graduation she was teaching school nearby and they spotted each other. She encouraged him to continue his education. Wally attended the University of Montana, Northern and the University of Missouri, Columbia, where he earned a Bachelor Degree in Public Administration. Wally and Ersel were married on December 28, 1929, in Dillon, Montana. Wally served 30 years working in Civil Services for agencies of the Federal Government in the field of personnel management. His work stations included Seattle; Coulee Dam; and Spokane, Washington; Helena, Montana; Mountain Home; Boise; and Burley, Idaho; Juneau and Kodiak Island, Alaska; and Lemoore, California. He worked with such government agencies’ as the Bureau of Reclamation, Army, Air Force, Bureau of Public Roads, and the Navy. He retired to Burley in 1969. After his retirement he and his wife traveled in the Western United States and Canada in their motor home. Wallace Cook Sharples. 92, died on April 8. 2002, at the Parke View Care & Rehabilitation Center in Burley, Idaho.
