READFIELD -- Ilse Westman kept a low profile.

When she died in August, she didn't want an obituary in the newspaper, said her longtime friend and attorney, Warren E. Winslow, Jr.

She didn't want a funeral, either.

But since Westman left more than $2 million to six local organizations, people are slowly learning more about the strong-willed German woman who came to call Maine home.

Westman, who died Aug. 19, left $500,000 each to Bread of Life Ministries, Alfond Cancer Center, The Salvation Army and Kennebec Valley Humane Society, Winslow said.

She also left $25,000 each to the Pine Tree State Arboretum and Maine Public Broadcasting Network.

Westman would have been 93 in October.

"She was a very charismatic woman," Winslow said. "She was fascinating."

Ilse Stone Westman was born in Germany and served as a nurse in Berlin during World War II, Winslow said.

Married to Heinz Westman -- the late, prominent psychologist and protˇgˇ of Carl Jung -- Ilse Westman and her husband moved from Germany to London, then New Jersey, and finally to Augusta in the early 1960s. Eventually, Winslow said, the couple settled into a home on South Road in Readfield.

Westman's friend and neighbor, Mark Ishkanian, described her as an "incredibly generous" yet "intensely private" person.

"She was truly one of the most remarkable people I've ever met," said Ishkanian, Westman's neighbor for nearly 25 years. "She was living history, in the sense that she lived through the bombing of Berlin in World War II and came to this country in the 1960s."

Ishkanian said the staff at The Senator enjoyed it when Westman, a regular, went there to dine.

"Although she was somewhat of a grump on the exterior, all the wait staff loved her," Ishkanian said. "She was honest almost to a fault."

And if you knew her, he said, you were sure to hear stories about her adventurous youth.

"She would tell about trips with her friends to Czechoslovakia, and that she would wait until she knew the border would be closed so she could tell her parents that's why she couldn't come home and she could stay out late," Ishkanian said.

Hartley Palleschi, whose late wife, Lois, was Westman's housekeeper for almost 30 years, said he remembers Westman as a very independent lady.

Palleschi, of Winthrop, recalled helping Westman get a small car years ago -- one of her most prized possessions.

"We went back to have something done to the car, so she had to leave it there, and before she left the salesman she asked that her car be washed for her so when she got it back it was nice and clean," Palleschi said.

"But when I took her back to get the car and it was sitting outside unwashed, she jumped out of the car before I could even stop it and went into the showroom and got onto that salesman. ... He ended up going out there himself and washing her car," he said.

"She was a small lady and this salesman was a big old guy probably 230 pounds or 240 and all she had to do was stand there and look at him."

South Road resident Eva Smith remembers her neighbor of 30 years as someone quietly involved in many different things.

"She was an avid reader, was involved in a lot of international things, was an environmentalist. ... She was quite the woman," Smith said. "She was just someone (the neighbors) all showed a little bit of special reverence to."

Although Westman was not actively involved with the organizations she left money to, Winslow said the causes she chose were close to her heart.

"She remembered being hungry in Berlin, so she gave to the Bread of Life," Winslow said. "She loved the Humane Society, and had a very strong interest in curing cancer."

The money was given with no strings attached.

"They can use it for whatever they decide," Winslow said.

Spokesmen for Bread of Life Ministries and the Kennebec Valley Humane Society said Westman's donations are among the most substantial they have ever received.

Scott Small, volunteer treasurer for Bread of Life, said he believes Westman's donation is "by far one of the largest."

"A vast majority of the money will be put into a trust account," Small said. "The intent is to leave it there as an endowment fund, with hopes that it will help provide an operating budget annually."

William Amidon, executive director for the Kennebec Valley Humane Society, said Westman donated a "fantastic gift."

"This might well be the biggest gift received here," Amidon said. He said $450,000 of the $500,000 has been placed into an endowment fund, while the remaining money will be used for various projects, including funding a new roof, laundry equipment, and establishing a surgery suite for a recently hired veterinarian.

For the most part, Amidon said, Westman was not a "regular" donor.

"She had made a few small contributions but we were not aware of her interest," Amidon said. "One of the ironies in all of this is that some of the very best gifts tend to come from completely unexpected sources."