Everyone dies, but very few leave a legacy for the next generation. This "secret millionaire" story warms the cockles of my ice-cold heart.
In Chicago's swanky North Shore district, most houses are McMansions. But Grace Groner, secret millionaire, lived a quiet old-lady life in a small home. She didn't own a car and bought used clothing at garage sales, but I'm sure she smiled, knowing she was a secret millionaire. Grace Groner was respected in her community for working with charities and donating to Chicago's Lake Forest College, her alma mater.
Grace recently passed away. She'd promised to remember Lake Forest College in her will, but school official didn't expect much. They were shocked when Grace Groner, a secret millionaire, donated $7 million to Lake Forest College, practically her life's savings.
But the large dollar amount isn't the only thing that's fascinating about Grace Groner's story. She'd accumulated the wealth over the years, but it basically was all from a single stock purchase Grace had made in the 1930s, during the Great Depression.
In 1935, she bought three $60 shares of specially issued Abbott Laboratories stock and never sold them. The shares split many times over the next seven decades and Groner reinvested the dividends. Long before she died, her initial outlay had become a fortune.
You can read the whole great story about Grace Groner, secret millionaire, and her donation to Lake Forest College over at the
Chicago Tribune.