May 6. Milton Hershey. When Hershey was 26, he was broke. But eight years later, he sold his caramel-making company for a million dollars and had a town named after himself.
He founded The Hershey Chocolate Company, and in 1907 he created the Hershey Kiss. During World War II, Hershey’s machines were switched over to produce Ration D Bars for the military—chocolate candy that wouldn’t melt in a pack and could keep a person going for a day.
Now—every day—more than 60 million Hershey’s Kisses are produced. Today’s story lets us in on the kind of man Hershey was.
Live a life that matters, or waste it on things that don’t.
Milton Hershey and his wife Kitty sat quietly in a well-appointed hotel room in Germany disappointed that a second trip to Europe hadn’t yielded a cure for Kitty’s worsening neurological disorder. She’d always be the love of his life. But now some days were more challenging than others, and walking required two canes. Some days she became so weak she was completely consigned to bed.
Now, here in the hotel, who knew how much time Milton and Kitty had to share their blessings? He told her, “I think it would be a sin to die a rich man,” he said. The words seemed to reverberate in the room as if they’d been ringing in Milton’s conscience for some time. Great wealth brought great responsibility.
Milton wanted to leave a lasting impact on the world for good. He hoped Kitty would agree. Perhaps the words of Jesus came to mind, “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36, KJV).
Milton’s wealth accumulated over the years producing caramels and milk-chocolate bars. But riches hadn’t changed him. He’d been born among God-fearing Mennonites on a farm in Pennsylvania, and preferred simple living—straw hats, plain clothes, and honest hard work.
Now Milton Hershey wanted to do more than build more than towns and businesses. He wanted to build lives.
Kitty’s heart ached as she looked into her husband’s wistful eyes. He’d always been inspired by business, but who would inherit his wealth? Suddenly God gave her an idea.
“We should use our wealth to help orphaned children! We could open a boarding school for orphans right in town.”
Milton’s eyes lit up. He loved the idea. They’d build and staff a school in town for orphaned boys, an industrial school where boys would get a chance to learn and grow and develop skills—a school where Christian values would be instilled!
In 1909, their dream became a reality, and the school filled quickly. Milton and Kitty signed the founding trust for the school together and were involved in every aspect of its administration. The boys soon came to be known in town as “Milton’s boys.”
Then one day in 1915, Milton walked down a flight of stairs to get Kitty a drink she’d asked for. She’d been suffering from a severe bronchial infection. Suddenly, her nurse stepped out of the room and called him to come back. Kitty had slipped away to heaven.
Grief-stricken, Milton was left to ponder the best way to honor her.
On November 13, 1918 Milton secretly met with his lawyer and signed over 90% of his fortune to the Hershey Industrial School for orphans—over sixty-million-dollars’ worth of stock held in perpetuity as a trust for the school, which is still in operation today—changing lives.
We all have a choice. Live a life that matters, or waste it on things that don’t.
Janet & Geoff Benge, Heroes of History, Milton Hershey, More than Chocolate, Emerald Books, P.O. Box 635, Lynnwood, WA 98046 2012 Janet and Geoff Benge
https://hersheystory.org/milton-hershey-history/ The Hershey Story, the Museum on Chocolate Avenue Milton S. Hershey, the Man Who Started it All, 2015-2020
Milton Hershey School website – https://www.mhskids.org/about/historyhttps://www.mhskids.org/success-stories/william-harding-78/
Story read by Daniel Carpenter
Story written by Toni M Babcock https://www.facebook.com/toni.babcock.1
Would You Like to Learn More About This Man?
How the Hershey’s Kiss Got Its Name
For the first 14 years, Hershey’s Kisses were wrapped by hand. But in 1921, the process was automated, and when a machine deposited a glop of chocolate onto the conveyer belt, it made a sound like “Kisses,” and that’s how the candy got its name.