This summer marks 20 years since the Pleasant Valley Hospital Health Foundation, now Rivers Health Scholarship Foundation, awarded the first Vitus Harley Jr. Scholarship. This annual $4,000 stipend goes to a student to help them complete their medical studies.
To Foundation board member Mike Lieving, the scholarship properly honors the man who spearheaded the initiative to encourage natives of the Point Pleasant area to return home to work in the healthcare field.
“He was the driving force of our endowment being nearly $2 million today,” said Lieving, a former business associate of Hartley, who died in 2004 at the age of 81. “He was the person who always preached that we needed to get it as large as possible to continue the legacy.”
Established in the mid-1980s under Hartley’s leadership, the Pleasant Valley Hospital Health Foundation held its first fundraising dinner in the fall of 1987. It awarded the first scholarships to eight students in the summer of 1989.
To date, the Foundation has distributed more than $970,000 in financial assistance to 230 students. Initially, much of that was grants-in-aid— loans that could be forgiven if the student returned to Mason County or neighboring Meigs or Gallia County, Ohio, to work in the medical field.
In 2024, three scholarships were awarded in addition to the Harley Scholarship. That grew in 2025 with eight scholarships, including the Hartley Scholarship, given to students studying in healthcare related fields.
In addition to college students, Lieving said the Rivers Health Scholarship Foundation has helped many past and current employees with their education. For example, nurses’ aides working on an RN degree or others doing continuing education courses can “work off” their grant or loan, he said.
Lieving called this focus on lifelong learning a fitting hallmark to his mentor. A veteran of World War II and the Korean War, after the military Hartley was a partner in Vitus Hartley and Sons before becoming President of Peoples Bank in Point Pleasant for 23 years.
“Mr. Hartley was a very inspiring individual who encouraged people to be their best,” said Lieving, who retired from banking in 2020. “He always told them to dress their best, shine their shoes, and stand up straight.
“He was very complimentary to people. Whenever we were together, he was always finding something to compliment others about, whether it was their appearance, their tie, or something else. That meant a lot to me – that he noticed details and made people feel good about themselves.”
Despite a name change after the Point Pleasant hospital’s acquisition by Marshall Health Network, the foundation’s scholarship program maintains the same standards. An applicant must be a resident of the tri-county area, carry a grade point average of at least 3.5, and be accepted for a professional course of medical study at an accredited institution in Ohio or West Virginia.
