To those who knew her, Brenda Shaw was a real-life angel.

Shaw was known to really listen in a conversation and ask thoughtful questions.

She attended church on a regular basis, and when it became too difficult, the parish sent a Eucharist priest to her home.

And now, to those at St. Michael School in Augusta, she’ll be known as the woman who posthumously donated $2.9 million to the school to help children in the community receive an education.

“I did not know her personally, but those who did told me what a lovely human she was,” principal Alanna Stevenson, said. “She worked very hard and saved her money up for this purpose. I think that is amazing.”

The donation from Shaw, who died in August, will go directly to establishing an endowment in her name to provide tuition assistance.

As a child, Shaw attended St. Mary’s, which merged with St. Augustine School in 2007 to establish St. Michael School.

Currently, 188 students attend the school in Augusta, which serves students from pre-kindergarten to eighth grade. Most students are from the central Maine area.

Because St. Michael’s is a private school, it’s supported by tuition, which pays teachers’ and administrators’ salaries as well as the cost textbooks and necessary school expenses.

Tuition is $6,900 for all grades. School officials do not have exact numbers for next year’s tuition yet, but do not anticipate it increasing drastically, said Jamie Logan, the school’s marketing director.

The school receives donations and gifts from people in the community when they die, Stevenson said, but nothing of this level.

The M. Brenda Shaw endowment is earmarked specifically for families who need tuition assistance.

“My hope is that now knowing about the endowment and the availability of funds opens the door for people who thought (St. Michael’s) might not be a possibility,” said Stevenson.

Stevenson said she is grateful for the gift to the school.

Joe O’Donnell, Shaw’s estate attorney and friend of 15 years, said Shaw worked for years at New England Telephone and later, at AT&T as a telephone operator. She worked nights and weekends at Damon’s market and Whippers Pizza.

She loved swimming in China Lake and tending to her garden — two activities she kept up with after a bout with cancer that caused her to lose a leg.

“It didn’t slow her down at all,” O’Donnell said. “She’d crawl around her garden and still swam.”

Shaw never married or had children, he said, but she had great friends in her life.

Shaw lived alone and her friends’ visits made it possible for her to remain independent, O’Donnell said. She lived for a while with her best friend Seth Green, who predeceased her.

And she always had the church.

Although she wasn’t as involved with the school, she wanted to help children in the community receive a Catholic education.

“She wanted to make it possible for people who would have liked to have gone, but didn’t have the resources to do it. That’s her purpose of her gift,” O’Donnell said.