The family and friends of Joel Tranby have raised over $55,000 for an Oregon State University-Cascades scholarship fund in his name, intended for Central Oregon students who need the financial support.

Tranby died this summer in a mountaineering accident on North Sister, outside of Bend. He was 21, and a business administration student at OSU-Cascades.

“We wanted to do something to forever remember Joel,” said David Tranby, Joel’s father. “He was looking towards his future… We wanted to help encourage other people who wanted to go to college, who needed some assistance with the finances, who also exuded a servanthood of character. He really put others before himself.”

The Bend Firefighters Community Assistance Program organized a GoFundMe campaign to support the Tranby family. They decided to use the money from that and other fundraisers to start a scholarship, maintained by the OSU Foundation.

“We wanted to do something that would forever last, that was our goal for an endowed scholarship. We didn’t know if we were going to be able to do that or not, but through the generosity of people, through especially the GoFundMe and some other donations that came in from friends and family, we were able to reach that,” said David Tranby.

OSU-Cascades students who are from Central Oregon and need financial aid will be eligible. Tranby graduated from Mountain View High School in 2020, and preference will be given to alumni.

OSU-Cascades awarded Tranby’s degree posthumously.

“We were fortunate enough to have people around us who were much smarter than we were (to set up the GoFundMe),” said David Tranby. “(The OSU Foundation team was) just phenomenal to work with, the amount of knowledge, but willingness just to work with us, to help create a scholarship that reflected what our desires were, but at the same time keeping within the drum, if you will, of what OSU is… We couldn’t have asked for better people to walk alongside us.”

Kind and thoughtful

Kimberly Vierra, an instructor in the university’s business college, knew Joel Tranby for several years, and taught him in classes. She also works in the Career Development Center, advising students in one-on-one sessions.

“Joel was never the first one to raise his hand in class. He was a bit shy and quiet, but he was kind and he was thoughtful,” said Vierra. “So when he did finally raise his hand in classes…he would contribute something worthwhile to the conversation, but not until he was ready, and it was always quite positive.”

Tranby is the second student Vierra has lost in her career, she said. Last year, another student of hers died in a motorcycle accident.

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“With Joel’s family, his celebration of life was really truly a celebration, and it was really clear to me that his family is incredibly caring,” she said. “If you think about losing a loved one, do you, in that moment of grief, think about funding the dreams of others who haven’t lost their children?”

Lack of finances is one of the main reasons a student will drop out of school. Any help could be the difference between working full time while also going to school full time and working less, she said.

Jereme Thomas, a classmate of Tranby’s, took his place in a class team project that was also a competition, and helped his team win first place.

“I felt a great responsibility to respectfully lead the team that was dearly missing his skills and abilities. I can only hope I represented him well. The endowment scholarship his family has established in his name is a testament to the large shoes I had to fill,” Thomas wrote in a letter.

Donations to the Joel Tranby Memorial Scholarship Fund can be made through the OSU Foundation.

Contribution for the Joel Tranby Memorial Scholarship Fund is here: https://give.fororegonstate.org/1AoUBZcqun