Skalla left St. Mary Church in Portsmouth, where he was a devout attendee for many years, $730,000, $10,000 of which earmarked to maintain the St. Mary’s cemetery and graves of the Skalla family. He left $720,000 each to the following 12 churches:

• St. Michael, Harlan; St. Peter, Defiance; St. Joseph, Earling; St. Boniface, Westphalia; St. Mary, Panama; St. Patrick, Missouri Valley; St. Anne, Logan; St. Patrick, Dunlap; Sacred Heart, Woodbine; St. Patrick, Neola; St. Rose of Lima, Denison; and St. Patrick, in Council Bluffs.

Skalla, who died at the age of 92 on Nov. 26th, 2013, grew up struggling to get by in a farm family, worked hard, never married, invested wisely and lived frugally on the way to amassing his wealth. The recent skyrocketing of agricultural land prices was a boon to his wealth and he left more than $2 million in cash assets, along with roughly 1,100 acres of farmland in Shelby and Harrison counties. The land was auctioned off earlier this year, with the proceeds spread amongst the churches.

Skalla spent the last 13 years of his life at Elm Crest Retirement Community in Harlan, where he moved after suffering injuries in a fall at his home. Before that, he lived on farmland southeast of Portsmouth and attended St. Mary’s in Shelby.