Texas man gifts $1 million to South Dakota veterans home

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) – A Texas man with no known ties to a South Dakota veterans home has given the facility $1 million.

Eighty-five-year-old Arlyn Reinert died in April and willed his life savings to the Michael J. Fitzmaurice Veterans Home in Hot Springs. South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem announced the gift Wednesday during her budget address to the Legislature. Noem said Reinert was a career Air Force veteran who lived a frugal life in Perryton, Texas.

Public probate documents show Reinert died at a nursing home in Perryton. He was never married and had no children. One of Reinert’s acquaintances, veterans’ service officer Dempsey Malaney, says he has no clue as to why Reinert chose to leave his estate to the veterans home in South Dakota.

AP-WF-01-24-19 1337GMT