Thomas Daigle paid off the mortgage on his Milford, Massachusetts, home this April — with more than 62,000 pennies.
Daigle, an optician, told the Milford Daily News that he had always wanted to make his last mortgage payment "memorable," so soon after he and his wife, Sandra, moved into their current home in 1977, he started saving pennies.
"It was something I wanted to do," he said. "I always follow through. I was just praying I didn't die first."
Daigle collected an average of 2.5 pennies a day, making his wife laugh every time he picked up a penny and said it was going towards the mortgage.
He stored the pennies, rolled in packs of 50, in the basement it was time to make the final payment. Daigle estimates that the coins weighed in at more than 800 pounds, or 360 kilograms.
Milford Federal Savings and Loan Association approved of the unconventional payment method prior to Daigle showing up at their office with two military rocket-launcher ammo boxes of pennies.
"They were 100 percent for it," Daigle said.
Daigle and his wife paid off their mortgage on their 35th wedding anniversary. They have two children and four grandchildren.
Daigle's advice to young couples? "Do what you say you are going to do," he told CBS Boston.
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