An elderly loner regarded as a miser who spent much of his time chasing youngsters off his land has left €10m million in his will for a children's park.
Wesley Howard, who was 87 when he died of a stroke, left his entire estate to create a youth sports park on his 68-acre farm at Medford, Oregon.
Howard, who never married, was born in the century-old farmhouse and lived there without phones or toilets, reports the Boston Globe.
Neighbours were stunned by the bequest, which has left them wondering how well they knew the man who had appeared to hate children.
An editorial in the Medford Mail Tribune opened with this line: "We'll never know if Wes Howard had a Scrooge-like epiphany or if there was always a charitable soul hidden beneath his gruff exterior."
Gene Glazier, who lived near the farm for five decades and whose children were chased off the property, said he was "blown over" by Howard's last act.
But Ivan and Twyla Bryant recalled a gentle, extremely private man who was constantly harassed by local children.
Children poked around his barn and orchards. Others hit golf balls to break his windows. They picked his grapes and ate his peaches. They sneaked into his fields and hunted for quail and pheasant.
However, Twyla Bryant said any child brave enough to knock on Howard's door on Halloween would get an apple and a pencil and even a hint of a smile.
After his father's death in 1972, Howard lived in the house by himself. He cooked on a potbellied wood stove, and drank water from a hand-dug well.