Iowa School Gets $4.5 Million 'Thank You'

It's a dismal rainy day where I am, so I am happy to have my heart warmed by this sweet holiday story. The Des Moines Register reports that St. Patrick School, a small parochial school in Iowa, recently received a surprise gift the likes of which it has never seen.

Charles O'Malley, a St. Patrick school alum and son of its founder, Nora, has given the school $4.5 million, to be dispensed in annual $300,000 increments over the next 15 years. Two-thirds of the funds will go toward an endowment, but the school will be able to use the rest right away to help with needed renovations, updating classroom materials and upping teacher salaries.

That's the best holiday news ever for this little Catholic school that Nora O'Malley founded in 1914 after a tireless campaign, when Charles was only 3.

Mr. O'Malley told the Register that he could remember her efforts to start the school: "My first recollection of my mother's campaign was when one day she took me to the Chicago & Milwaukee Railroad depot. When the train came in, two women, dressed differently than my mother, got off and met her. They were Sisters of the Order of St. Francis. Every week she invited nuns to come from different localities that had Catholic schools to obtain suggestions and advice. Our local priest, James Cleary, was not in favor of the project or mother's nuisances at the time."

His mother eventually fell ill and died of cancer in 1921. Her dying wish was for all five of her children to attend and graduate from the school. Her wish came true, and now the school will carry on well into the future with the support of her loyal son.

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