My grandfater on my father's side was the town banker in New Britain Connecticut. My father's eyesight was extremely bad. He had to get eyeglasses from a charity organization because his dad wouldn't put up the bucks for them.
This guy used to walk home from the bank to his 3 story mansion (most of which was locked up the day after the decorating was done to save on heating costs). He'd stop by the butcher shop to see if the butcher had any meat that was starting to turn that he could get at a discount.
Of course college for any of the kids was totally out of the question.
I can't be too harsh on the old guy though. After dividing his estate a jillion ways from Suncay my grandchild share was $8000, enough to get me into the house I've lived in for 30 years now.