Most people who knew Genevive Via Cava had no idea that she was a millionaire.
“I mean she floored me with that. I didn’t know she had that type of money,” friend of 30-plus years Richard Jablonski told WINK News.
But her frugal coupon-cutting lifestyle, which afforded her a minimal wardrobe and no vacations, allowed her to squirrel away over a million dollars.
The woman didn’t even want to spend $4,000 to buy herself a decent hearing aid.
She told Jablonski, “Don’t be foolish with money, Richard. It’s not how much money you earn, it’s how much you save.”
Apparently, her penny-pinching ways stemmed from living through the Great Depression.
“Genevieve lived through the [Great Depression] and it really left a mark on her,” Jablonski told PEOPLE. “She used to scold me when I’d take my three sons out to eat. When she’d come in to the shop to talk, she wore the dowdiest clothes that you could imagine. She had no need for flashiness. Really, about the only time she went out was when I took her out to Dairy Queen for ice cream.”
Jablonski recalls visiting Via Cava twice a day when she became ill.
Despite being encouraged, she didn’t want to go to the hospital until she one day when she made a trip to the bank.
“The teller said, ‘Genevieve is all bent over, not feeling good at all,’ ” Jablonski said. “So I told her to call an ambulance right there. She died pretty quickly. I was two blocks from the hospital when I got a call, saying she’d passed away from sepsis. She was buried in the clothing that I’d bought for her.”
Her deep pockets were revealed when she passed away at the age of 88 and left a million dollars for her special education students.
Via Cava left her home to Jablonski, whose son and grandchildren occupy the home, and left the rest of her money to the Dumont School District, Salvation Army, a hearing Center, and a few New Jersey animal shelters.
“She was a no-nonsense, no-frills woman but generous and big-hearted towards kids.”
It took the school district seven years after Via Cava’s passing to finally get that check, but eventually, they did in 2018.
“She must have had a tremendous connection with the district and the students,” Emanuele Triggiano, superintendent of the Dumont School District, said. “The most we have ever seen from any group was in the tens of thousands but never something like this.”
The funds are being invested and the interest will be used to fund an annual scholarship.
“Its an eye-opening experience for them because this opens more doors for opportunity,” Dumont School District Director of Special Services Paul Barbato said.
About $25,000 is going to a special needs student seeking further education.
“Genevieve was very smart — she knew finances,” he tells PEOPLE, “and I know she’d be thrilled to hear that the interest alone from her $1 million gift to the school district will pay for a scholarship every year. She was a strict teacher, but she loved those kids. They meant the world to her. And now her legacy will live on forever.”
Learn more about the selfless Via Cara in the video below.
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
