By Trey Mewes, staff writer

There’s not a soul in LeRoy who knew Loren Krueger who has anything bad to say about him.

Everyone seems to remember him as a nice gentleman, very friendly and caring, who’d talk to people he passed on the street and was frugal with his money. It wasn’t a surprise to hear Krueger had left a large portion of his sizable fortune to the town when he died.

“He spoke to everybody,” said Mary Harrington, the housing manager at Wildwood Grove Nursing Home, where Krueger spent the last three years of his life. “He was just the guy you knew, and you always visited with him and talked with him. He was just a good guy.”

Krueger passed away on March 11, 2009, at 94-years-old, succumbing to illness. He’d been known around town as a good man and a landowner of several farms in the area. When he died, he left hundreds of thousands of dollars to each of LeRoy’s five churches, among other organizations in town like the fire department, the ambulance service, and the town’s senior center.

“You could say the community’s been blessed,” Paul Hamlin, the council president for LeRoy Lutheran Church said.

Krueger left behind almost $3 million in assets when he died. This comes as no surprise, as townsfolk always figured Loren was very frugal with his money. He never seemed to spend a lot of money on himself, preferring to save. There’s still speculation around town about Krueger’s fortune, with rumors flying that he inherited money around nine times in his life and possessed a large amount of stock in Hormel.

Almost all of the churches that received money donated to Wildwood Grove’s kitchen renovation project, allowing the nursing home to update its kitchen and make it stainless steel in order to comply with state mandates.

LeRoy Lutheran fixed a leaky roof over their bell tower and is looking to make the church more handicap accessible, along with other repairs to the parsonage. In addition, they’ve given to a variety of groups and organizations and even set up a scholarship fund for their graduating high school seniors.

“I think everybody was really surprised, the way it was all written up,” Hamlin said of Krueger’s generosity. “I hope it’s an inspiration to others — other people in the community and other surrounding communities. This way, there’s a special meaning behind it. He thought enough of the community to leave it all to them.”

First Presbyterian Church has been able to fix its roof as well, and money will most likely be given to various church missions as well, according to Harlo Wheeler, a member of First Presbyterian’s church council.

“I think it’s the best thing in the world,” Wheeler said. “He gave it to the proper people, and dividing it up.”

Wheeler knew Krueger for quite a while, having been an electrician in town for 51 years. Krueger was in the same nursing home as Wheeler’s mother, and Wheeler would talk to Krueger on the phone at times, whenever Krueger wanted to talk.

Krueger, a Catholic, primarily attended St. Patrick Church, which received a large share of the money. While Joyce Arndorfer, a staff member at the church and the executor of Krueger’s estate, couldn’t say just how much the church is getting, several members of St. Patrick’s congregation claim the church will be receiving about $980,000.

That number isn’t solid, however, as much of Krueger’s estate is tied up in land, which has to be sold off. As a result, every group benefiting from Krueger’s remembrances has received payments in several disbursements based on when and for what price Krueger’s land holdings are settled.

Arndorfer said there’s not a lot left to settle in Krueger’s estate, but she remembers how good a man Krueger was. She and her husband Clarence, met Krueger years ago, as her sons Michael, then Anthony and finally Patrick rented farm land from Krueger.

“They did a lot with Loren,” Arndorfer said. “They would spend the day with him fixing fences, and he would take them to dinner. They were very close to Loren.”

Over the years, the Arndorfers remained close with Krueger. Joyce helped Krueger balance his books from time to time, and the Arndorfers even stayed in Texas at times with Krueger and his wife, as they went down to Texas every winter for quite some time.

Krueger had no surviving relatives when he passed, as his second wife had preceded him in death some 20 years earlier, according to Arndorfer. Krueger’s only son had lost his life to cancer after graduating high school years ago, too. Krueger had asked Arndorfer to have power of attorney over his estate when he made out his will, although Arndorfer doesn’t remember exactly when that was.

Krueger even helped the Arndorfer boys who took care of his property. When he passed, the boys were able to buy the land they had rented from him using money Krueger had left them.

“He was very good to them. He helped them out a lot,” Arndorfer said. “I’m very happy about that.”