UNEXPECTED, but pleasant news has arrived at Bolwarra Primary School - they have been gifted $50,000.

The generous donation is from the estate of Bolwarra resident and former Bolwarra Primary School student John Hanlon, who passed away in August last year.

Acting principal Julie-Ann Kelly said the school was delighted to receive the very generous.

“We are lucky in the sense that we were one of a few recipients to receive such a wonderful gift from an estate and it was totally out of the blue. We had no inkling or anything like that.

“Because it's such a generous gift, I contacted the lawyer for the estate and asked if it would be possible to speak to the executors about the connection. These things don't happen without a reason.”

John’s son, Haith Hanlon, is the executor of the estate and as well a former student at the school.

“I was lucky enough to speak to Haith on the phone, we got to chatting, and then suddenly this huge connection with the school opened up,” Ms Kelly said.

Haith’s grandmother, Mabel Hanlon, was the first generation in their family to attend the school, as she was a teacher there in the 1940s and so on, and even taught her son John.

Haith is the third generation in his family to attend the school, his daughter being the fourth.

“My grandmother taught my father here in the mid to late ‘40s, her daughter and I went here, my sister's been here, and my daughter's been here,” Haith said.

Haith said he had known about the donation for 12 months.

“We had to wait for the probate period to finish,” he said.

“I did let it slip to the (Bolwarra) Uniting Church across the road, because they got some money from his estate as well. He also gave quite a bit to Vision Australia and the Royal Flying Doctor Service will get a nice little bonus soon when everything’s finalised.

“I remember in the 1970s, our linen closet was full of guide dog towels and sheets, so he's been a supporter of the guide dogs and then Vision Australia for 50 years, easily.

“I'm not exactly sure when the connection to the Royal Flying Doctors came in, but I do know he used them on occasion in his later life for health reasons.”

John was born at Portland Hospital in 1941 and died at the age of 82. He worked for himself as a truck driver for 50 years and was well-known around the district.

“He knew everybody in town and everybody's house and everybody's dog,” Haith said.

“He was the first truck driver to load the live sheep out of Portland and he used to cart aluminium ingots down the hill for Alcoa. He had a big connection to Borthwick and most of the trucking companies around the district used him as a subcontractor if they had extra loads.

“For a sole proprietor, at one stage, he had nine semi (-trailer trucks).”

Portland Bolwarra School hope to use part of the donation to create an award or plaque in remembrance of John.

Teachers have also been speaking to students about what they'd love to see the money spent on, to which some have suggested a fence around the basketball court.

The whole school community will be invited to give suggestions, but as of now, no ideas are official.