By DIANE GASPER-O'BRIEN

dobrien@dailynews.net

They are described as conservative women who had a passion for helping students learn.

But no matter how much, or little, money they had when they died, they made it clear they wanted the majority of it to go to Fort Hays State University.

Dorothy and Marva Lange had no idea how many students they would help with that gift.

Earlier this week, FHSU announced a $2 million estate gift from the Langes, most of which will be used for student scholarships.

"(Marva) was really involved with her students," said Shirley Gabrielson from Wichita, a fellow teacher with Marva at Wichita West High School.

Gabrielson talked about one instance when a student was injured in a plane crash and Marva offered to tutor the boy on her own time.

"She cared about them so much," Gabrielson added.

The Langes grew up on a farm in Mitchell County -- near the small town of Simpson, about 12 miles southeast of Beloit -- as the only children of farmers Ed and Zella Lange.

Dorothy, the oldest sibling by four and a half years, decided to pursue an education degree at then Fort Hays Kansas State College when she graduated from Simpson High School.

Younger sister Marva followed suit after graduating from Simpson in a class of five students, and both embarked on teaching careers that would be the focus of their entire lives.

Neither sister married, nor had children. But both also received their master's degrees from FHSU.

Dorothy spent her entire career in schools in north-central Kansas, then retired close to home, in Beloit, in a house formerly owned by her parents.

Marva was a high school English teacher who taught at schools in Greensburg, Little River, Hill City and Newton before settling in Wichita.

After teaching with Gabrielson for nine years at Wichita West, Marva was on the original staff at Wichita Northwest High School when it opened in 1978.

So, too, was Gabrielson's husband, Kenneth, a school guidance counselor.

The Gabrielsons had become friends with Marva during her teaching days with Shirley, and they talked her into making a will and designating what she wanted done with her estate.

"She grew up in the '30s when things were tight and was not one of these people who kept track of investments and had no idea how much money she really had," Kenneth Gabrielson said.

"She said her dad always said, 'If you have (extra) money, you should invest it in land,' " he added. "(The sisters) had quite a bit of land. And they wanted that money to go to students, and to the (college) where they had gotten their education."

Dorothy died in 2004 a couple months before her 83rd birthday and left her entire estate to Marva.

Marva died in May, at the age of 83, and Jerry Eilert from Beloit, executor of the sisters' wills, got to make the call to FHSU.

"Those kinds of calls are neat," said Eilert, a retired banker who knew the family for years. "All the money is going to such a good cause."

The Lange's estate gift was the third-largest ever to FHSU.

The top single gift was from Paul and Virginia Miller, in excess of $5 million, in 1998.

Second was a $2.2 million estate gift from Carl Rohwer from Wichita in 2006.

"With the budgetary challenges we have experienced during the past 18 months, scholarship assistance now more than ever is vital to our students' success," FHSU President Edward Hammond said. "This sizable gift will enable us to offer our students more opportunities at a time when the cost of higher education is increasing due to state budget shortfalls."

The gift will be counted toward the Cornerstone Campaign, a $60 million fundraising effort by the FHSU Foundation.

Brooks Kellogg, an FHSU graduate from Steamboat Springs, Colo., was present at Tuesday's press conference announcing the gift.

Kellogg, co-chairman of the Cornerstone Campaign and a former teacher himself, talked about the value of estate gifts.

"None of us would be through college, if we would have had to pay the prices these kids do now," he said. "You never forget you're a teacher, and we are grateful that we can celebrate this act of generosity at a time when it's needed most."