"Never judge somebody across the table for what they look like," Laurie Rowell said.
In 2022, Brattleboro Memorial Hospital opened a $22.7 million expansion, paid for partly with Ronald Read's gift.
They named it the Ronald Read Pavilion.
Advertisement
"I wish he were alive to see how his gift is going to impact this community," his friend Ellen Smith said.
Once, a stranger paid for an old man's breakfast, sure that he couldn't afford it.
Today, that old man's name is on a building at the hospital where he drank his coffee every morning.
He kept his secret for more than 50 years.
In the end, he gave it all away.



