Remembering Dianne Look with a scholarship in her name

WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAW) - Among the victims of the March 22, 2017 shootings was Dianne Look. Her customers knew her as the nice lady at the bank. Her husband Bob knows that was true of course. Now, some of this nice lady’s unfulfilled dreams have come true.

It’s yearly task, or should I say labor of love for Bob Look. Going over the applications for the Dianne Renaud-Look Scholarship. It’s $1000 for a DC Everest graduate, where Dianne got her high school diploma in 1968.

“This was something my wife and I were planning on doing when we both retired,” says her husband Bob.

The scholarship in her honor was up and running by 2018, a year after she fell victim to the shootings. That’s when Dianne would have celebrated her 50th class reunion, “it was something that my wife and myself believed in greatly and that is not based on grade point average, whatsoever.”

Instead responses to essays on the application carry more weight, with the communication skill fitting Bob’s life long job as a broadcaster and Dianne’s personality at the bank.

“She was a people person. She was very good at communicating with her customers that she dealt with,” says Bob.

Applicants are numbered, so Bob never sees the names of the applicants. Sometimes, Dianne’s sister helps him determine the winner.

Last year’s winner, Charlie Alves is a psych major at the University of Minnesota.

“I’ve always tried really hard in school but I’ve never been your average straight A student, so it was really nice to be seen for who I am on the inside and what I value more than just a piece of paper,” she says.

The scholarship is not the only public honor for Dianne. She wrote children’s books in her spare time. “Memory Garden: Bebe the Tiny Beast” was published after she passed.

It features characters that came straight from Dianne’s heart.

“And all the characters are based on pets, neighbors pets or the two chipmunks have her children’s names, so I’m very proud of that,” says Bob.

Copyright 2022 WSAW. All rights reserved.