Erros Helene Osterloh

Erros Helene Osterloh, 88, long-time resident of La Grande and retired teacher at La Grande High School, died Jan. 5 at Wallowa Memorial Hospital in Enterprise. She had been living with her son, Ron, in Enterprise for the last several months.

The memorial service will begin at 11 a.m. Monday at First Christian Church, 901 Penn Ave. in La Grande The Christian Women Fellowship of the First Christian Church is hosting a reception and story-telling time in the upstairs meeting room after the service.

Erros Helene Penland was born March 8, 1921, to John and Mable Penland in Albany.

She attended the University of Oregon where she met Wilbur Osterloh whom she married on March 21, 1942. She majored in science and graduated with a B.S. in 1942. She taught in Elmira during the war. When Wilbur returned from the Pacific in 1945, they moved to New Jersey, where she taught high school. In 1948 they returned to Oregon. They lived in Roseburg, Baker City, Garden Home and North Powder before finally settling in La Grande in 1960.

She taught science at the junior high school for three years before moving to the high school where she taught biology, Earth science, astronomy and photography. She continued taking courses at night and during the summers and received her M.S.

Those who knew her say she was an enthusiastic and imaginative teacher who inspired many of her students to pursue careers in science and teaching. Her summer science program was especially popular. It included field trips around the state to many of Oregon's varied geologic features and hiking trips into the Wallowa Mountains.

In 1975, the La Grande Union County Chamber of Commerce presented her with their Woman of the Year award. The National Association of Geology Teachers gave her their Outstanding Earth Science Teacher Award in 1976.

In the same year, The Izaak Walton League of America recognized her with their Golden Beaver Award for Conservation Education. In 1980 her teaching skills were recognized with the EOSC Ralph E. Badgley Outstanding Science Teacher award and the Phi Delta Kappa Award for Excellence in Education. She was most proud of her recent inclusion on the LHS Wall of Fame in 2006.

NASA recognized her teaching achievement, inviting her to the NASA Viking Headquarters when the Viking lander began sending pictures of the Martian surface.

She was a long time member of the photography club and the quilting club.

She is survived by her four sons, Walter and Russell Osterloh of La Grande, Ronald Osterloh of Enterprise and Douglas now living in New Hampshire; 14 grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers the family requests that memorial contributions be made to the Erros Osterloh Scholarship for the Outstanding Science Student of the Year.

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