A Carpenter Secretly Saved $3 Million and Sent 33 Strangers to College

Dale Schroeder was born on April 8, 1919, in Clarion, Iowa. After high school, he got a job as a carpenter at Moehl Millwork in Des Moines. He started in 1937.

He stayed for 67 years.

Schroeder never married. He never had children. He drove a rusty old Chevrolet truck that his coworkers gently teased him about. He wore simple clothes. He lived in a modest house. His friends and colleagues knew he was frugal, but nobody thought much of it.

When Schroeder finally retired in 2004 at age 85, he had worked at the same company for longer than most people are alive.

He died on April 12, 2005 - just one year into retirement. He was 86.

That was when his attorney, Steve Nielsen, revealed what Dale Schroeder had been doing all those decades. He had quietly saved approximately $3 million. Not through any windfall, inheritance, or lucky break - but through 67 years of steady work, frugal living, and patient investing.

And he had left every cent of it to send strangers to college.

The fund covered full tuition, books, fees, and room and board at one of three Iowa public universities: Iowa State, the University of Iowa, or the University of Northern Iowa. There was one condition: the students had to be from Iowa and unable to afford college on their own.

Over the next 14 years, 33 students received full scholarships from a man they had never met. About 600 to 800 people applied each year. Four were selected.

The recipients became doctors, teachers, and therapists. They stayed in touch with each other and with Steve Nielsen. They formed a community around the memory of a man none of them had known in life.

They call themselves "Dale's kids."

Dale Schroeder asked for one thing in return: pay it forward.