Roberto Clemente was one of baseball’s greatest stars: 3,000 hits, four batting titles, two World Series championships with the Pittsburgh Pirates. In December 1972 a massive earthquake devastated Managua, Nicaragua, and Clemente led the relief effort from Puerto Rico. When he heard that supplies were falling into the hands of profiteers, he decided to fly along himself to make sure the aid reached the people who needed it. On New Year’s Eve, the overloaded DC-7 crashed into the ocean shortly after takeoff from San Juan. He was 38, and his body was never found. He could have stayed home and sent a check, but he chose to go.
Julio Diaz was a 31-year-old social worker in the Bronx who always got off the subway one stop early so he could eat at his favorite diner. One night in early 2008, a teenager pulled a knife on him on the platform and took his wallet. Julio handed it over, then called after the kid and offered him his coat too, since it was cold out. The boy was stunned and asked him why. Julio said if you’re willing to risk your freedom for a few dollars, you must really need help, and he invited him to dinner. At the diner, the kid noticed Julio was even kind to the dishwasher and said he didn’t think people actually acted that way. When the bill came, the boy gave the wallet back, Julio gave him $20, and the teenager handed over his knife.
Oseola McCarty spent her life washing and ironing other people’s clothes in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. In 1995 she gave $150,000, most of her life savings, to the University of Southern Mississippi to help students who needed scholarships. People all over the country were so moved that gifts poured in to add to it. She hoped the scholarship would one day reach a million dollars, and in 2025 the university announced it had. A washerwoman’s quiet faithfulness is still sending kids to college.
Ronald Read pumped gas and worked as a janitor in Brattleboro, Vermont. He wore old flannel shirts, drove a used car, and gathered fallen branches for his wood stove. Once at the local coffee shop, somebody even paid for his breakfast because they figured he couldn’t afford it. When he died in 2014, his town found out he had quietly built a fortune of about $8 million through careful investing. He left $1.2 million to the local library and $4.8 million to the hospital, the biggest gifts either had ever received.
