By Austin Fitzgerald

COLUMBIA, Mo. (Dec. 2, 2024) — The Missouri School of Journalism today announced the Bettie J. Koelling Memorial Journalism Scholarship in honor of Koelling, who worked for more than 18 years as an administrative assistant in the School of Journalism’s dean’s office.

The scholarship was endowed with a $50,000 gift from Charles Koelling, former associate dean of the University of Missouri’s College of Education and husband of 78 years to Bettie Koelling, who passed away in July.

“I’m grateful that Bettie’s legacy will live on at the School of Journalism as a source of opportunity for new generations of students,” said David Kurpius, dean of the School. “This scholarship is a fitting tribute to her spirit of generosity and compassion.”

Koelling had a reputation for being easy to talk to, a quality that endeared her to staff, faculty and students over the course of nearly two decades at the School of Journalism. It was a quality her husband believes was best summed up by their children.

“They said it was like she had a sign over her head all the time that said, ‘talk to me,’” Charles Koelling said.

That was certainly true at the School, where Brian Brooks — then the chair of the editorial department — witnessed her irrepressible impact.

“She was a beloved figure in the School,” Brooks said. “When people had problems, they went to her to cry on her shoulder. A lot of students came to seek help from her, or at least get her to point them in the right direction to somebody who could help.”

Brooks, who worked at the School for half a century in various capacities, said Koelling was such a fixture that it seemed like she had always been at the School. But that didn’t mean he took her for granted: her influence, even spread amongst countless people throughout her career, never felt watered down.

“This was one of the best people I’ve ever known,” Brooks said. “She was so positive in her relationships with other people that you couldn’t help but like her.”

Those sentiments were echoed by Don Ranly, former head of what was then known as the magazine sequence at the School. Ranly was an associate dean from 1983-84 and worked in close proximity to Koelling during that time.

“She was a great ambassador for the School with everybody, all the time,” Ranly said. “I think she had a genuine love for the School and took as much pride in it as any of us. She felt like she was doing a great thing.”

Ranly could only recall a single moment when her demeanor was less than chipper toward him. She questioned him after he had lost his temper — over what, time has forgotten — and slammed his phone down.

She was a beloved figure in the School. When people had problems, they went to her to cry on her shoulder. A lot of students came to seek help from her, or at least get her to point them in the right direction to somebody who could help.

Brian Brooks

“She spoke to me about it, I think rightly so,” he said. “She said, ‘whoa, is something wrong?’ That was the only time she questioned anything I ever did in my office. She just always had a friendly smile and laugh when I saw her.”

For Charles Koelling, that smile persists. From time to time, he addresses her portrait on his living room wall, and her beaming face — which seems to have been sculpted around the smile, with her features only adding to its glow — greets him in return.

It’s as if the “talk to me” sign is still there, and that’s what matters to him more than any one specific memory. There are too many special moments: to reduce her to one would be a disservice.

“Any accomplishments I’ve made in my life, she is largely responsible,” he said. “She was my rudder and my guide all our life.”

Now, through a scholarship in her name, Koelling will play a part in guiding young people toward their own accomplishments, a synchronicity that is not lost on her husband.

“I would only hope that the students would go on to do something that would be great for mankind, would enhance the possibilities of mankind and would be fair and objective,” he said. “I think that’s what she would have wanted, too.”

Contributions to the Bettie J. Koelling Memorial Journalism Scholarship may be sent to the Missouri School of Journalism Office of Advancement, 103 Neff Hall, Columbia, MO 65211. Please make checks payable to the University of Missouri. For more information, please call 573-882-0334.

Updated: December 2, 2024