Who Is Geoffrey Holt?

My VIP for this week is Geoffrey Holt, a caretaker of a trailer park in Hinsdale, New Hampshire, who died in June at the age of 82. I chose him to be my VIP because he is an excellent reminder that there are many good-hearted, honest, hard-working people in America.

Most of the people in Hinsdale knew Holt as an old man riding a lawnmower, taking care of a trailer park, and never drawing attention to himself. Yet, Holt was more than they saw.

Alison Anton reported the following in her article in The Western Journal. 

What his fellow townsfolk didn’t know was that Holt was a shrewd investor who carefully managed his money, amassing a fortune of $3.8 million – which he left to his entire hometown, according to the Brattleboro Reformer.

For Hinsdale, the revelation came as a complete shock. Despite Holt’s incredible wealth, he never changed his simple lifestyle.

“People really didn’t know who he was. I mean, I didn’t even know what his name was,” the town administrator, Kathryn Lynch, told The New York Times.

Even his close friend, Edwin “Smokey” Smith, had no idea the extent of Holt’s wealth until Holt approached him in 2000 asking what he should do with his wealth, according to CNBC.

Holt and Smith had known each other since the 1970s. Holt did many odd jobs for Smith, and Smith gave him a place a place to live on his 25-acre plot of land.

It was Smith who recommended that Holt, who had little surviving family and no children, use his money for the people of Hinsdale. Based on that advice, Holt decided to leave the entirety of his $3.8 million fortune to the care of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, to be given to his hometown of Hinsdale.

The charity will make grants “to honor Mr. Holt’s wishes: support projects, programs and organizations that provide health, educational, recreational or cultural benefits to the residents of Hinsdale,” a representative told CNBC.

From the testimonies of Holt’s friends and townsfolk, an interesting trend emerges. According to everyone who knew him, Holt’s wealth never changed him. As Smith told the Times, “I guess you really didn’t know whether he had money or not because he never bragged about anything.”

Holt’s lifestyle and spending habits remained unchanged from the moment he moved to Hinsdale to the moment he died.

He easily could have blown all his wealth on himself, but he didn’t.

Not only did Holt refrain from spending it all on himself, he spent essentially none of it on himself. He lived in the same frugal way he had always done and saved the money till his last breath in order to benefit the people with whom he lived for most of his life.

Holt’s life was one of simplicity and generosity. Therefore, it was both refreshing and reassuring, showing that there are people in this world who can withstand the pull of materialism and live simply and honestly.