MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A Memphis man is extra thankful this holiday weekend. He’s been fighting to keep land that’s been in his family for nearly a century.

Now, thanks to a good samaritan who saw our story about him last month, he will.

Will Henry Quinn Jr., a 64 year old on a fixed income, owns fours lots on East Alcy Road and a total of seven pecan trees. He sells the nuts to maintain the land and pay the taxes on it. His grandfather made the purchase in 1919 after serving in World War I.

For years, people would steal his pecans, continually cutting into his sales revenue. He feared he’d lose the land until a woman saw our story about him, and anonymously paid for fences, something he couldn’t afford.

“Whoever you are out there, thank you so much,” Quinn Jr. says.

Quinn Jr.’s plan is to turn his land into something called Quinn Farms where people can come and buy pecans, and hopefully, a number of different vegetables. He’s trying to partner with Hamilton High School so students can help plant and harvest.

“They will have something they can put on their college resume. They might possibly want to go into some form of landscaping,” he says.

It’s something he never thought possible and he owes it to an anonymous woman who wanted to help.

“I don’t know who she is. I don’t know where she is, but I do know this Thanksgiving, that lady gets a lot of thanks from me. She has got one big heart,” Quinn Jr. says.

A big heart that’s helped a man keep his family’s legacy.