Elderly Connecticut teacher and her twin were secret millionaires, donate huge sums to charity upon death.

Among the money donated, the Simsbury, CT, native left...

• $480,000 to Simsbury public schools, where she taught.
• $500,000 to University of St. Joseph in West Hartford, CT.
• $375,000 to her local parish, St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church.
• $400,000 to McLean Nursing Home, where she died.

Kathleen Magowan and her twin brother, Robert, amassed nearly a $10 million fortune during their lifetime. Both never married, yet lived a quiet, unassuming life together in a single family home they inherited from their parents decades earlier.

Robert once worked at Prudential Insurance and was the financial wizard of the family, which included investing his sister's money. When Robert died in 2011, and his sister a year later in 2012, Kathleen was worth over $6 million, while her brother was worth nearly $4 million.

Kathleen taught for three decades as a first grade teacher in the Simsbury public school system, and always looked fondly at her time there, as well as her alma mater, the University of St. Joseph. Yet no one at the public school system or at the university knew Magowan was a millionaire. In fact, neither did Magowan herself. When she showed up to a law firm near the end of her life for some financial advice, a lawyer asked how much Ms. Magowan thought her estate was worth.

Her reply? $40,000.




photo: Hartford Courant and estate of Kathleen Magowan