PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — George Ruhberg, a 93-year-old retired Marine, figured there was no time like the present to write a $1 million check to the local Shriners Hospital for Children.

Ruhberg had been a volunteer at the hospital since 1994, and had included a bequest for it in his will. But the former accountant thought, why wait?

Ruhberg told hospital officials a couple of months back that he wanted to make the donation now.

Development Director Mark Thoreson told him to have his broker contact Shriners headquarters in Tampa, Fla., to arrange a funds transfer.

"But he said, 'Hold on, I want to write a check,'" Thoreson said. "And I totally understand that: I wanted to make the transfer safe and he wanted the thrill of writing that check."

Ruhberg got his moment on Memorial Day, when he wrote the check during a gathering with hospital officials in a common room of his retirement community.

"Aren't you going to ask me about how I got the money?" he asked a reporter for The Oregonian newspaper.

The answer? "I saved it."

And it turns out the savings started with a military pension.

"I never have been a spender, and when I got out of the Marine Corps in 1961 after 26 years, I became an accountant at Pacific Power & Light because I had always wanted a white-collar job, and my wife and I got by fine on that paycheck, so I banked my pension from the Marine Corps and invested it."

Ruhberg joined the Marine Corps in 1935 and saw service in World War II in the South Pacific. He also served in Korea.

He retired after 18 years at Pacific Power & Light in 1980. "So I took up golfing with some guys, and it wasn't long before I got so tired of it that I started volunteering," he said.

A four-decade Mason, a Shriner and a member of the Scottish Rite, Ruhberg has also volunteered with veterans' and children's' groups, and Meals-On-Wheels.

A former chief warrant officer for the Marine Corps, Ruhberg also has given $220,000 over the years to Oregon Scottish Rite clinics and $52,000 to DeMolay, a Masonic youth organization.

"George has been a volunteer at the hospital since 1994," said Shriners Hospital spokeswoman Kay Weber-Ekeya, "and he still leads tours — talk about the millionaire next door, he's really the sweetest man."

(Copyright 2009 The Associated Press)