University of Montana creates Dorothy Powers scholarship fund

Longtime Spokesman-Review reporter and columnist Dorothy Powers, who died in October 2014 at the age of 93, left more than $1 million dollars to the University of Montana in her will.

Powers, who was told she shouldn’t go into journalism because she was a girl, grew up in Montana and attended the University of Montana. After she graduated in 1943 she went to work for The Spokesman-Review, where she was one of the newspaper’s best known and beloved journalists until she retired in 1988.

The university announced Tuesday that the school had received $1.1 million from Powers’ estate to create the Elwood and Dorothy Rochon Powers Scholarship for graduates of Montana high schools who show financial need and academic merit. The university also received $226,000 for general scholarships.

Powers had previously donated money to the University of Montana in 2007 to have a room in the School of Journalism building named after her father.