Old shoes... and lots of cash

Press, 10 January 1986, Page 6

Old shoes... and lots of cash

NZPA-AAP London A wealthy fanner who repaired his shoes with sticky tape rather than buying a new pair has left £200,000 ($576,000) for improvements to his local village.

Albert Worboys, aged 85, of the Cambridgeshire village of Guilden Morden, held a reputation as the meanest man in town — he drove around in an ancient, battered Austin van and was always complaining about the cost of things.

He left £175,000 ($544,000) for the building of three luxury bungalows for former employees and set aside extra money for maintenance.

In his will, Albert also pledged money to his parish for a bus shelter and the upkeep of the church graveyard, the “Mirror” newspaper reported. The remaining £450,000 ($1,296,000) will go to charity.

One villager said: “Everyone used to joke he would

take the cash with him when he went to meet his Maker.” Another said: “I knew Albert for over half a century and he never spent money on himself. He never bought a new suit in all that time and stubbornly refused to buy a new pair of shoes.” In Washington, Pennsylvania, it was reported that an 89-year-old recluse who had ordered the heat cut off to his house was found frozen to death in bed, a metre away from a box stuffed

with nearly SUS2OO,OOO ($400,000) in cash. Joseph Heer, whose estate was worth more than SUSSOO,OOO ($1 million) had been dead for at least a couple of days when his body was found in the icy house.

“I can tell you it was so cold in that house I couldn’t stand it,” said the Washington County Coroner, Farrell Jackson. “I went in with just my suitcoat on and I had to come back out and get my topcoat.”