Family Discovers $45,000 in Home and Returns the Money

After moving into a new house, Josh Ferrin discovered $45,000, which had been stored there by previous owner Arthur Bangerter.

By Kathryn Hawkins. Posted on May 19 2011

Arthur Bangerter, a biologist for the Utah Department of Fish and Game, spent more than 40 years living in a house in the Salt Lake City suburb of Bountiful. After he passed away last year, he left the home to his children—but they sold it before doing a thorough inspection to discover a generous gift he’d left them.

So, when the new occupants, Josh Ferrin and his family moved in, they came across a surprise in the garage attic: seven metal boxes filled to the brim with rolls of cash that had been bundled with twine. Ferrin began counting the money, and was shocked to find that Bangerter had left $45,000 cash behind.

For a moment, Ferrin thought about everything that money could do to help his family: They could fix up their car and make renovations on their new house, and even adopt a child, which they’d been wanting to do for years. “But the money wasn’t ours to keep and I don’t believe you get a chance very often to do something radically honest, to do something ridiculously awesome for someone else and that is a lesson I hope to teach to my children,” Ferrin told the Associated Press.

After counting the money, Ferrin called one of Bangerter’s six children, son Kay Bangerter, with the incredible news. Kay Bangerter had seen his father socking away cash, but had never realized how much his father had saved.

He said that the money—and Ferrin’s willingness to return it—was “a story that will outlast our generation, and probably yours as well.”

Filed under: Heroes,

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