The Thelma Ross Dalton Scholarship Fund was established in 2000. Scholarship awards are distributed annually and can be up to $3,000 each to selected residents of Miami County to further their post-high school education in any accredited college, trade/vocational or nursing/health related facility.
Thelma Ross graduated from Troy High School in 1929. She started work as a receptionist for the Ralph Dalton Advertising Agency right out of high school and as it turns out, it was the only job she ever had. Friends tell us that she grew up in a very depressed time, wearing family hand-me-downs which were always blue. With her first paycheck, she bought the brightest red dress she could find. She also would skip lunch from time to time to have the coins needed to have a soda with her friends. Thelma married Ralph Dalton after his first wife died and kept the advertising agency open at 9 E. Canal St. in Troy after his death, until dissolving the corporation in the 90s. She died Sept. 5, 2000 but her legacy remains with the Thelma Ross Dalton Memorial Scholarship Fund.
Application deadline is February 1.