Former Driver's Ed Teacher Leaves His Town Nearly $4 Million

Geoffrey Holt was an enigma. Over the years, he lived a simple life as the caretaker of a mobile home park in Hinsdale, New Hampshire, teaching driver’s education to high school kids, and collecting model cars. In the process, he amassed a small fortune of just shy of $4 million.

Then he gave it all away to the people of Hinsdale, a town of 4,200.

According to WBAL-TV in New Hampshire, Holt’s instructions indicated that the money was intended to “benefit the community in the areas of education, health, recreation and culture.” Holt’s apparent frugality was on display in his “threadbare clothes” and inside his own mobile home, which was devoid of most furniture; he didn’t even own a TV or computer.

The news site says that some residents have proposed some ideas for the money, including upgrading the town hall clock, restoring buildings, buying a new ballot counting machine, or setting up an online driver's education course.

Holt didn’t own a car himself, but his best friend Edwin "Smokey" Smith (who became the executor of Holt's estate) told WBAL that his friend had a collection of hundreds of model cars and train sets, as well as historic books about Henry Ford and World War II. Mostly, Holt kept to himself.

"[Geoffrey] always told me that his main goal in life was to make sure that nobody noticed anything," his sister Alison Holt said. He’d add "or you might get into trouble."

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