Elderly Carpenter Worked Hard for 67 Years, Gave Life Savings To Send 33 Strangers to College
What many parents want in life is to give their kids the best shot they can. Nothing makes a parent happier than seeing their kids excel, especially when their children get opportunities to do things the parents themselves always wanted to do.
Dale Schroeder is like many parents in that his sacrifices have dramatically improved the lives of people younger than himself, but there are a few major differences.
Schroeder never married. He lived a simple life and never knew luxury or higher education — and yet, despite that, his hard work paid off and he was able to save up what most would consider to be a small fortune: nearly $3 million.
He never spent the money on himself, relying on two pairs of jeans (a pair for work and a pair for church) and a Chevrolet truck to get where he needed to go.
Perhaps most surprisingly, Schroeder never met the recipients of his generosity, and they never met him. They didn’t even know he existed, but for years he worked and saved to be able to put them through college since before they were even born.
His friend Steve Nielson described him as a “blue-collar, lunch pail kind of guy” who worked as a carpenter with the same company for over 60 years, according to KGO-TV.
“Went to work every day, worked really hard, was frugal like a lot of Iowans,” Nielson said. Schroeder had a specific goal in mind: he wanted to send kids to school
“He wanted to help kids that were like him that probably wouldn’t have an opportunity to go to college but for his gift,” Nielsen explained.
“Dale’s Kids,” as they came to be called, all were able to attend college and acquire their degrees thanks to the generosity of Schroeder, who passed away in 2005. The money just ran out, and it ended up helping 33 young adults secure their college educations.
Kira Conrad was one of those young adults, and she knows that had it not been for Schroeder’s unexpected gift, she never would have been able to continue her education.
“I grew up in a single-parent household and I had three older sisters so paying for all four of us was never an option,” she said, according to KCRG/CNN.
The $80,000 tuition it would take to pursue her goal of becoming a therapist was a fantasy, until Conrad got a call that made it a reality.
“For a man that would never meet me,” she said, “to give me basically a full ride to College, that’s incredible. That doesn’t happen.”
Liftable, a section of The Western Journal, has reached out to Conrad but has not yet received a response. We will update this article if and when we do.
The 33 recipients recently got together in Schroeder’s honor, 14 years after he’d passed away. College graduates and young professionals, they knew that they would be required to pass on the blessings that had been bestowed upon them.
“All we ask is that you pay it forward,” Nielsen said, explaining the late donor’s wishes. “You can’t pay it back, because Dale’s gone. But you can remember him and you can emulate him.”
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
