Lamberton Family Scholarship
The Lamberton family began when Katie Suttmann married Henry Lamberton at the turn of the 20th century. Katie’s parents traveled from Germany when Katie was a girl, and Henry’s ancestor served with George Washington in the war for independence. Henry and Katie became Dakotans, though in time, hard weather and die-hard hope pushed them west.
In 1920, Henry and Katie moved, with their family of nine children, from South Dakota to Washington State, but the land that Henry had purchased was not as advertised. It was desert and without water—unsuitable for homesteading. The Lambertons, who had a train-car stocked with children and farm tools, took the advice of a helpful family and moved to the Elk/Camden region of Washington where Henry’s logging skills could help feed his family.
During their stay in Elk, their 10th child was born, and Elk is also where they met a woman who could answer their questions about the Bible. Henry and Katie had begun keeping Saturday as Sabbath in the Dakotas after reading two books they’d purchased from a “one-armed colporteur,” who sold the sympathetic Katie, Patriarchs and Prophets and Prophets and Kings, by Ellen G. White.
In 1923 the family moved near the Canadian border in Okanogan County—settling in Brewster, Washington, where they found steady work in the apple orchards. In the next decade, three more children joined the family, making a total of fourteen children. By this time the oldest children were high-school age, and Henry and Katie determined to send their children to the Adventist high school, Yakima Valley Academy (YVA).
According to YVA/UCA alumni records, Henry and Katie had children at YVA/UCA for 27 years (1923 until 1950)! The stories of how the family afforded this education is not uncommon in the history of SDA schools. They worked! Every penny mattered and work of any form, and in any amount, paid for school.
This dedication to Adventist schooling marked the family. In a region and in an era when so many young men and women quit school, Katie Lamberton insisted on education. Some of her children attended only YVA/UCA, but others were rowdy and saw several schools before graduation, but they all stuck to it. Along the way, if a child didn’t seem serious, Grandpa Lamberton could remove him from school and put the boy on one end of a loggers cross-cut saw until school began to look like a good idea.
In 2011, Henry and Katie’s oldest grandson, Jerry Dawes, UCA ’52, decided it was time the Lamberton family began demonstrating their gratitude to YVA/UCA. By now, the 4th generation of Lamberton teens were being educated at UCA and the total number of Lamberton alumni was approaching 100!
Each year, at the Lamberton family reunion, Jerry would “pass the hat” and collect a little offering. Thus began the “Lamberton Family Fund.” Jerry says, “YVA and UCA have deeply affected our family. The values we learned at YVA/UCA have shaped and brightened our lives in so many ways. We owe a debt of gratitude that money can never repay. We just want to pass on the benefit we received to the next generation.”
In 2016 Jerry Dawes passed the leadership of the Lamberton Family Fund to his nephews, Henry Lamberton, ’66, and Dan Lamberton, ’67.The purpose of the Fund is to assist hard-working Hispanic students in obtaining a quality education at UCA. Many Hispanic students come from families who work in the orchards and on farms as did the Lamberton children.
Eligibility Criteria: Student need. Distributions from the Lamberton Family Fund are presented along with FoundationONE’s general grants.
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