Osterhout graduated from Doane with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history in 1937. In 1938, he married fellow '37 graduate Erma Ragatz of Columbus.
After graduation, his occupations ranged from operating a furniture and home supply store in Crete to a decade with the Nebraska Resources Department, where he helped bring several new industries to Nebraska towns, including Crete. According to local writer and historian E.A. Kral, Osterhout was the first state official in history to use distinguished Nebraskans to help attract businesses to the state.
He also gave time to the community, serving as chairman of the Industrial Committee of the Crete Chamber of Commerce, president of the Crete School Board, president of the Nebraska School Board Association, and past president and life member of Rotary.
The rest of his professional career was at Doane. He became a member of Doane's Board of Trustees in the 1950s. It was the first of many Doane titles he would receive over the years, including twice acting president, business manager, vice president of financial affairs and senior vice president - a position from which he retired in May 2003. A new east entrance to the Crete campus was dedicated "Osterhout Lane" in May 2002. Doane awarded him the title Vice President Emeritus in 2003.
A deep emotional attachment to his alma mater showed in each role he undertook. From classmates to co-workers, Osterhout was known for his humility, wisdom and quiet strength.
Although his service shaped Doane in many ways, his most visible legacy is the 300-acre campus itself. "The landscape is his lasting impact," said Pappy Khouri '70, former Doane treasurer and vice president for finance.
What you may not know, is that Osterhout actually began his first of many tree-planting missions while still a student at Doane. In a past issue of the Doane Magazine, Dean Emeritus Don Ziegler '50 wrote about the tale of young David "wheel[ing] rapidly behind Gaylord (he was one of the few with access to a car in those days) to attend a school dance one evening, where he inadvertently mauled a young tree, leading shortly to a summons to the office he would one day occupy, that of college treasurer A.T. Cassell, to replace the tree."
Osterhout oversaw landscaping for new buildings and the replanting of much of the central campus. He helped Doane become the 19th affiliated site of the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum in 1979. In 1983, he brought an All-America Rose Selections test garden to campus. In 1988, he helped secure a Kiewit Foundation grant to establish a nature study area.
Khouri called Osterhout a "wise and gentle man with an intense sense of service." In each role, he always preferred the background, Khouri said. "Yet he was the one person everyone wanted to please."
Khouri considered Osterhout a mentor who helped him in his own 35-year career at Doane.
He first met Osterhout in 1969 when Khouri was editor of the Doane Owl newspaper. Osterhout called him to his office to talk about an editorial. "He showed me the facts, led me on the right path in a gentle way," Khouri said, which was Osterhout's way.
His legacy at Doane can't be stated strongly enough, according to Brand. "An institution's core values are not etched in stone at the moment that that institution is established. During the course of its history, important individuals can shape and influence those very values. David was one such figure," Brand said.
Read more about an
endowment being established in Osterhout's honor, and a celebration of the life and legacy of David planned for Friday, May 9.