LtCol Ivan B. Grimes
LIEUTENANT COLONEL IVAN B. GRIMES MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP
Ivan B. Grimes was born April 4, 1920. He attended a one-room country school and graduated from high school in 1937. He worked at various jobs until 1939, then enlisted in the Army. Ivan was called to active duty in January 1940. He had his basic training at Schofield Barracks in Hawaii and was stationed there when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. He served throughout World War II in the Pacific Theater, including Guadalcanal, the Northern Solomon Islands and the Philippines liberation. He returned to the United States in May 1945.
After his discharge, he attended the University of Iowa College of Pharmacy and received his degree in June 1949. He married Verla “Vickie” Bales in September 1946. After briefly practicing pharmacy in Iowa, he moved his family to Portland in 1950. He returned to active military duty upon the outbreak of the Korean War, serving as the pharmacy officer at Madigan Army Hospital. In 1958 he earned a master’s degree in hospital dministration from Baylor University. After a short time he transferred to the newly formed U.S. Air Force Medical Service Corps, where he served until his retirement as a lieutenant colonel in September 1975. His assignments included Vietnam, Seventh Air Force Headquarters, and director of education at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Washington, D.C. Ivan was a veteran of three wars: World War II, Korea, and Vietnam.
After retirement, he and his wife moved to Corvallis, where their sons Christopher and Gregory had graduated from Oregon State University.
Ivan was a life member of the University of Iowa Alumni Association, Military Order of World Wars, Military Officers Association, Disabled American Veterans, Pearl Harbor Survivors Association. and Air Force Medical Service Corps Association. He was also a member of the Corvallis Elks 1413 and the Military Officers Club of Corvallis. He served two terms as president of the Military Officers Club of Corvallis. Ivan was a strong supporter of the Military Science Scholarship Endowment Fund and the ROTC programs at Oregon State University and Western Oregon University.
The scholarship in his memory is funded through the generous donations of his family and friends.