The frugal Iowan never went to college himself

He left $3 million with no strings attached for small-town kids' tuition

The group of grads recently gathered to remember Dale, who died in 2005

DES MOINES, Iowa – Some people are keenly aware that money is a powerful tool that, when wielded thoughtfully, can transform lives.

Ames carpenter Dale Schroeder was one of those people. According to CNN, he was a frugal man who, over a lifetime without a family of his own, put together a $3 million scholarship fund that has made it possible for 33 people to attend college.

"He was that kind of a blue-collar, lunch pail kind of a guy. Went to work every day, worked really hard, was frugal like a lot of Iowans," Steve Nielsen, Schroeder's lawyer who helped arrange the scholarships, told CNN.

"I never got the opportunity to go to college and so I'd like to help kids go to college," Schroeder told Nielsen 14 years ago, the lawyer said. Nielsen's jaw dropped when the working-class tradesman told him the amount he had saved.

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"I kinda was curious, I said 'how much are we talking about Dale?' And he said, 'Oh just shy of $3 million' and I nearly fell out of my chair," Nielsen said.

Schroeder died in 2005, but he left behind two pairs of jeans, a rusty truck and instructions to allocate the funds to small-town Iowa kids, CNN reported.

"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," Kira Conrad, the last of the 33 to have their college tuition paid in full by Schroder's fund, told CNN.

"For a man that would never meet me, to give me basically a full ride to college, that's incredible. That doesn't happen."

The 33 Iowans Schroeder put through college recently gathered around his old lunch box this past Saturday. They dubbed themselves "Dale's kids." It was a group of doctors, teachers and therapists with no college debt.

With Schroeder gone, there's no paying it back. His only wish was they pay it forward by emulating his generosity.