South Walton's Boettcher Remembered by Scholarship

10/28/2005

It was more than four decades ago that R. B. "Bruno" Boettcher, whose business and civic work would shape the face of South Walton, promised his future wife's Japanese father that he would "take care" of Chieko Boettcher if he would consent to their marriage.

Now, carrying on her late husband's tradition of looking after others, Chieko Boettcher has made a major gift to establish the Bruno and Chieko Boettcher Nursing Scholarship Endowment through the Okaloosa-Walton College Foundation.

"I really want to do this for Bruno because he was always (privately) helping other people," said Chieko, of the former Air Force colonel she met and married in Tokyo in 1963. "Bruno was a good man, a very good man."

How they met was almost happenstance. "I had gone to an office to visit my friend and that's where Bruno and I first met," she said about the man from St. Bernard, TX who would be her husband for almost 40 years. "First, Bruno had to ask permission from my father because there were so many sad stories about war brides coming back to Japan. I remember Bruno told my father he would take care of meand he did."

Before they met, Boettcher had been a guiding hand in the early development of South Walton's Gulf Pines Subdivision in 1955. He would go on to develop 10 other South Walton subdivisions after retiring from the Air Force, ending a 30-year career during which he served in World War II, Korea and Vietnam.

To help meet the growth demands of the area, Boettcher assisted in organizing the South Walton Utilities Company. He was a charter member of the Santa Rosa Golf and Beach Club and the Sandestin Lions Club, where he was past president, three times a 'Melvin Jones Fellowship' recipient from Lions International, and where he devoted many of his civic hours. Boettcher was also past commander of the American Legion Post 264 in Santa Rosa Beach.

Chieko Boettcher said she chose a nursing scholarship because "I know how hard nurses work in hospitals. I know the college has built a good nursing program to help the community." Her scholarship donation will be matched $1-to-$1 by the state.

Dr. Bob Richburg, OWC President, said the Boettcher Scholarship "came at a perfect time since the college has just expanded our registered nursing program to accommodate 18 more freshmen students each year." There are currently 108 Registered Nursing students in the OWC associate degree nursing program.

"OWC is proud to be a part of this honor for Col. Boettcher," said Richburg. "The South Walton community where he played such a role in its development can take pride that Chieko Boettcher has begun a legacy for the community he cared about through our nursing program."

For other individuals or companies who would like to establish a Health Technology or other scholarship at OWC, information is available by calling the OWC Foundation at 729-5357 or on the website at www.owcfoundation.org The foundation website now also features the opportunity for donors to make a contribution on-line through a secure system.