Inhabitants of a small village in north-west France were on Monday debating how to spend a fortune left to it by one of its sons who made his money on the other side of the world.
Jean Kerfers died earlier this year at Noumea in the Pacific Ocean archipelago of New Caledonia. He had left the village after World War II to work in Australia.
He was 80 and childless, and his remains were buried in Noumea.
He bequeathed to his native village of Mael-Crahaix, population 1 580, in the middle of Brittany a legacy of €1,4-million.
The windfall will “be used over a period of time”, according to the village’s mayor, Stephane Rivoal.
The local council will early next year next draw up a list of “priority projects” for “old people, families and schools”, as Kerfers wished.
It will seek the advice of his only known living relative, a woman cousin aged 90, about how best to commemorate the gift, by a monument or the naming of a street.
The legacy is greater than the entire €1,2-million annual budget of the village, which had to hire a tax lawyer to handle the legacy. — AFP