National Clothesline

When drycleaner Genesio Morlacci was alive, he didn’t like to spend money needlessly.

As the result of decades of frugal spending, he was able to bequeath $2.3 million to the University of Great Falls in Montana after he recently passed away at the age of 102.

The small Catholic school, which enrolls about 800 students, will use the money to generate annual scholarships of approximately $100,000.

During a press conference, Great Falls University President Eugene McAllister expressed his gratitude. “This is the largest single gift ever received by the University,” he said. “This is an extraordinary gift from an extraordinary man.”

“He worked very hard for this, 18- and 20-hour days, and during each of those working hours he was doing something good for a student he will never meet,” McAllister added in an interview with an Associated Press reporter.

In his youth, Morlacci worked as a drycleaner for two decades before he first operated Sun Cleaners in the late 1940s. According to longtime friend Bill Foy, he practically ran the entire operation by himself. “He did it all — the pickup, delivery, cleaning, pressing,” Foy said. “The only hired help was a cashier.”

After Morlacci retired from the industry, he worked as a part-time janitor at Great Falls University. He wanted to work four hours a day, but was fired when they asked him to be full-time, but he refused.

A widower with no children, he held no grudges against the school, however, donating nearly all of his life savings, which he maintained mostly as the result of thriftiness.

Those who knew him claimed that he would remove worn collars from his shirts and sew them back on upside down with the frayed side hidden. He also patched up his pants often.

Not one to splurge, he and his wife, Lucille, dined out on occasion — but they only chose budget restaurants when they did. Aside from that, the only “luxury” they afforded themselves was a couple of trips to Italy, the country where he was born.

Morlacci himself never received a higher education, but it didn’t deter him. His longtime friend, Bill Foy, told the Great Falls Tribune: “He only had a third grade education, but he knew his numbers. He wasn’t afraid to work hard.”

The Western States Drycleaners and Launderers Association have been successfully running its “Hope For the Holidays” clothing drive for over 15 years. This year will be no exception.

Starting in November, the group chose to work with the Greater Phoenix Big Brothers-Big Sisters organization, as they did the previous year. The goal will be to collect several tons of wearable clothing until the drive ends on January 15, 2005.

“We started talking about it in the summertime -- what are we going to do?” said Donn Frye, who chairs the drive for WSDLA and also owns Prestige Cleaners in Scottsdale, Arizona. “We just thought that the Brothers and Sisters organization really came through pretty well for us. They do a lot of things that are good for the community.”

Those with any questions about the program should contact the WSDLA office at (602) 253-9816.