Mystery donor gives $475,000 for Fairmont students

Some folks in Fairmont may not recall Marjorie McClain, but she didn't forget her time growing up around there.

The Fairmont Area Dollars for Scholars chapter recently found out that McClain left it $475,000 to be used for scholarships.

News of the endowment came by letter, and chapter officials say they don't know any more about McClain than what her attorney included in correspondence about her will.

According to papers sent by her attorney, McClain was born in the nearby southern Minnesota town of Ceylon, and attended school there and in Fairmont. She spent much of her life in St. Paul. She married late in life and moved with her husband to Potosi, Wis., where she died last year at the age of 87.

The attorney said McClain helped several people pay for their college careers and asked in her will that the scholarship be named after her mother Minnie Jorgensen, who was a teacher.

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Information from: Sentinel, http://www.fairmontsentinel.com

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