A Childless Legacy

I think every one of us, at some point, must have thought about the idea of leaving behind a “legacy”. We all long for a sense of importance and relevance in life. Nobody wants to be forgotten.

For most people, having and raising a child — continuing your bloodline — is the most natural route to leaving a sort of footprint for posterity. The question is then what about childless people? What kind of legacy do they leave behind? Some of the stories of these folks are astounding to learn about.

The Secret Multi-millionaires

Now, there are many famous childless people who have changed the course of humanity: George Washington, Mother Teresa, Beethoven, to name a few off the top of my head.

But what really inspired me to write this post is reading about the seemingly ordinary folks whose legacies are much, much larger than themselves.

Let’s meet Dale Schroeder: Dale was a carpenter from Iowa who worked for the same company for over 67 years. Very salt-of-the-earth, small-town America type of man. He had two pairs of jeans and an old truck.

One of the few pictures of Dale I could find

That’s how Dale lived his life — humble and peaceful. He died in 2005, at 86 years old. Throughout his extremely frugal life, he had managed to save $3 million! (that works out to around $50,000 a year, which is an extremely impressive number for a blue collar worker!). He had no family and no children though, so what was he saving money for?

Turns out before he died, he had set up a scholarship in his name.

Dale grew up poor and could not afford a university education. So he used his life savings to set up a fund, so that the underprivileged kids from his hometown could have a chance at education.

His scholarship ended up sending 33 people to college. All of them could not have afforded college otherwise without his scholarship. Many later became teachers, doctors, nurses, engineers — all without any student debt. These people now form a group called “Dale’s kids”, and they regularly meet up to honour Dale and share updates on their lives.

A very similar story I came across is about Robert Morin. Robert worked as a librarian for 50 years at a university library. As an avid reader himself, Robert seemed to enjoy his work a lot. And like Dale, he also practised extreme frugality: driving the same car and eating frozen dinner, never squandering his money. Robert died having no children and with a savings account of $4 million! And he decided to donate all of that $4 million to the university he had worked at his entire life.

Robert Morin, the librarian who donated $4 million

A Legacy Without Children

It is amazing to think about the impact these ordinary people must have made on the lives of so many. The lives of Dale’s kids, and their kids, all took a drastic turn thanks to his scholarship. Robert’s library now bears his name and legacy for many years to come, even after he has gone. And yet neither of them are celebrities — just ordinary folks with no offspring who wish to posthumously make the most differences to their community.

These examples speak volumes to the kinds of legacy any one of us can create for future generations. It shouldn’t have to be limited to having kids, then spending your life saving money to buy a house for them — as most people’s life goals seem to centre around.

I’ve thought hard about this topic. Of course we don’t have to make our lives as extremely frugal as Dale’s or Robert’s, but there are many smaller things anyone can do to pass good to future generations:

  1. Mentorship. Spend time with a younger person, be a role model, and teach them with all your heart. Teach them about life, about a skill, how to be a good person, and ask them to pay it forward.
  2. Write. Write a blog, an autobiography, a book — anything that can be put down into text as an expression of your personhood. It doesn’t have to sell at all. Just write for yourself and anyone who might wish to find out about you (*). 
  3. Donate. Find an institution or organisation that you wish to support. Could be a school, a charity, a hobby group, anything.
  4. Advocate. Find a cause you believe in, promote it, fight for it. Could be environmentalism, social work, vegetarianism, education, a hobby, anything that you truly believe in.
  5. Volunteer. Make a difference one small action at a time. Work at a charity kitchen, plant trees, give out free books, teach poor kids.
  6. Work. Find a profession that focuses on making a positive impact on the lives of others: teaching, healthcare, construction, entrepreneurship, and many more.

Those are the 6 ways I can think of through which we can leave the world a better place than when we came in. Personally I’ve done a couple off the list, but I still have so much more left.

(*) There’s a fascinating story about a man named Martin Manley who built a website indexing his life before committing suicide. I’ll write a post about him.

Final Thoughts

Of course not everyone necessarily wants to have a legacy. Some people just want to live their life to the fullest. Some spend all of their money and even die in debt — with no regrets at all.

There is nothing wrong with this. I’d be surprise if in 100 years’ time anyone will even remember our name. Maybe with the exception of a handful few inventors, politicians, scientists or religious figures who truly alter the course of mankind and will be remembered for centuries, the rest of us will all very soon fade into the oblivion of time.

Nowadays, there are entire communities of “child-free” people who voluntarily choose to not have children. I neither support nor oppose them. It’s their choice, not mine.

At the end of the day, having children is a perfectly normal way of passing down our genes and making sure our legacy lives on. But more than that, I think any one of us has the potential to create impacts that can be so much beyond the scope of our fleeting and insignificant lives. “Immortality” is an impossible quest, but with a bit of effort, the little things we do can live on for eternity.

2 thoughts on “A Childless Legacy

  1. Thank you for sharing the stories about these two millionaires. I have gained new perspective on how some people can lead meaningful lives in a special way. It is regrettable that these two men couldn’t witness the fruitful results of their work. I wish they had been able to donate their fortune or a portion of it earlier.
    I think your ideas about what anyone can do for future generations sound fun. You are doing an excellent job of making positive impacts on others as a teacher, writer, and enthusiastic athlete and referee in your arm wrestling community. What else am I missing? 🙂
    On the occasion of Vietnamese Teachers’ Day, I truly wish you good health and happiness.

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