Iowa Carpenter Gave 33 Students A Shot at College

I've only been in Iowa for about six months, but I already know that the people here are some of the kindest people in the country. Iowans are the type to not only give you the shirt off their backs, but after you pull that shirt on they'll invite you over to their place for pork tenderloin.

This story is from several years ago, but it never hurts to revisit stories that cement the fact that the people in Iowa have the biggest hearts around.

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I was just scrolling through Facebook earlier this week when I came across this photo of an older gentleman. The text below the sweet graphic gave a brief synopsis of his story.

Dale Schroeder of Ames, Iowa lived a simple and frugal life. Reports say he only owned two pairs of jeans, his church jeans, and his work jeans. The carpenter spent the majority of his life working for the very same company. Schroeder didn't marry nor did he have kids, so when he would inevitably pass away, he had no one that he could pass on his life savings.

"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," his lawyer Steve Nielsen said in an interview with CNN several years ago.

Schroeder told his lawyer that he wanted to give his life earnings to students to help them get through college.

The carpenter never went to college himself, but he always wished he had. So, in the spirit of kindness, he wanted to give someone else a chance.

Not just one someone...thirty-three.

His savings over his life amounted to approximately $3 million. That turned out to be enough to send thirty-three students to college. So, they arranged a scholarship program to help students follow their dreams.

Schroeder died in 2005, but his memory lives on, especially for those lucky college students who got the chance to follow their dreams...just because one Iowan with a heart of gold decided to pay it forward.