Othello farmer leaves big bequest to local foundation

OTHELLO — Wayne Bartelheimer was a nice guy.

“He loved people, and his employees were important to him, making sure they were well treated,” said Alan Bartelheimer, Wayne’s brother and business partner in the Bar-E Dairy near Othello.

In fact, Alan said, his brother Wayne wanted to make sure the area’s young people could benefit from the work he’d done over the course his 74-year life.

So when Wayne died in late 2019 at the age of 74, he left a large portion of his estate to the Columbia Basin Foundation, as well as the Eastern Washington University Foundation and the National Parkinson’s Foundation.

“He had no offspring, and he went to Eastern Washington University and had a good time there, and he had Parkinson’s, which was the main cause of his death.” Alan said. “He wanted to benefit causes and students in the area, and this is he went about that.”

The donation is just one that has helped the Columbia Basin Foundation’s endowment grow to $10 million from $1 million around 15 years ago, according to Executive Director Corinne Isaak.

“I’m always amazed,” Isaak said. “I get to experience the generosity of the community when they donate to us.”

Isaak said the foundation, which currently manages a total endowment of around $10 million, will use Wayne’s $600,000 bequest to create the Wayne L. Barthelheimer Memorial Athletic Scholarship, which will provide financial assistance to high school and college students in Grant and Adams counties who might want to pursue college athletics and who have demonstrated “integrity, citizenship, motivation, academic success and financial need.”

“Each year, we distribute around 5 percent, and we don’t ever touch the principal,” Isaak said. “We expect to distribute around $30,000 each year from this scholarship, and we’ll start in 2021.”

After enlisting in the U.S. Army upon graduation from high school in 1964, Wayne went to school at Eastern and then earned a masters in family counseling from Fresno State University. He worked as a counselor for the Lutheran Family Center in Portland, Ore., for 20 years, and also started the Bar-E Dairy in Othello with his brother Alan in 1992.

“Bartelheimer east, that’s where the Bar-E comes from,” Alan said.

Alan added that his brother was “fairly athletic,” running regularly and participating in triathlons.

Isaak said the Columbia Basin Foundation manages 116 funds and gives out 52 scholarships to high school and college students every year, and notes that the foundation’s work “really benefits the community.”

“The neat piece when you donate to charity, it continues to grow and will forever benefit the students of Grant and Adams counties,” she said.

“I’m really proud of what he has done,” Alan said of his brother’s bequests. “It’s given me joy being part of this process.”

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at cfeatherstone@columbiabasinherald.com