The Conversation (0)
Narjas Zatat
Aug 04, 2019
A carpenter who spent 67 years at the same workplace has made the dreams of 33 students come true after he funded their education.
Kira Conard is just one of the people who benefited from the help of Dale Schroeder, who was born in 1919 and stayed at the same business in Des Moines, Iowa.
When he died in 2005 he had managed to collect $3million (£2.47million) in savings.
According to Schroeder’s lawyer and friend Steve Nielsen the man owned a total of two pairs of jeans, one for work and one for church, he never married and had no living relatives.
He told CNN affiliate KCCI that before Schroeder died, he spoke to his friend about the possibility to start a scholarship, saying that though he hadn’t had the chance to go to university, he wanted others to be able to get an education.
One of the recipients of his help was Kira Conard, whose family couldn’t afford for her to go to university.
When she got a call from a stranger, who turned out to be Nielsen offering a scholarship courtesy of the carpenter she said she “broke down into tears immediately.”
Since his death in 2005, that money has been given out to 33 Iowans.
Conard hopes to become a therapist in the future, and she said:
For a man that would never meet me to give me basically a full ride to college, that's incredible. That doesn't happen.
Nielsen’s only request is that his friend is remembered.
All we ask is that you pay it forward. You can remember him, and you can emulate him.
HT CNN
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