H. William Arndt, M.D. and Kay M. Arndt Endowed Scholarship
EST. 2018
Please address your letter to:
The family of H. William Arndt, M.D. and Kay Arndt
Dr. H. William Arndt grew up in Whitefish, Montana where his father and brother both worked for the Great Northern Railroad for 50 and 43 years, respectively. Dr. Arndt decided to bypass a railroad career and set his sights on a medical career — an ambitious goal since no one in his immediate family had even graduated from high school. Dr. Arndt supported his educational aspirations by working seven days a week during the summers for six years in demanding manual jobs, including three years as a construction worker on the Hungry Horse Dam. Although his first year in medical school was somewhat discouraging, he gravitated toward pathology in his second year and found his niche. In his third year, Dr. Arndt met Dr. Ted Perrin, then chief of pathology at the United States Public Health Service (USPHS) Hospital in Seattle, who became his mentor. Dr. Arndt elected to join the USPHS and was assigned to New Orleans for his internship followed by two years in El Paso, Texas in the Foreign Quarantine division of the USPHS. He was delighted to return to the USPHS Hospital in Seattle as a pathology resident but was transferred to San Francisco for the final two years of residency. Dr. Arndt chose private practice over a career in the military and took a position at the Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital in Los Angeles where he enjoyed a rewarding and professionally satisfying career for nearly 40 years.
Dr. Arndt created this scholarship in loving memory of his wife Kay M. Arndt who trained as a nurse and received advanced training and a master’s degree in medical surgical nursing and a Master of Public Health degree. Mrs. Arndt spent many years teaching and mentoring nursing students in the community college setting. Dr. Arndt also created this scholarship in tribute to his education. His desire was to provide financial support to students — particularly from his home state of Montana — to pursue their dream of a medical school education. It was his hope that recipients of the scholarship “will pay the support forward” and establish scholarships for the benefit of the next generation of medical school students.
