Being ignorant is not a good thing because it makes many people lose great opportunities that will definitely change their lives, like what the OP's friend was trying to do. Assuming that the OP was not there to guide his friends, his friend may have lost the opportunity. I am seriously surprised that there are still some people who are educated but don't really know about Bitcoin, especially in this world of advancement of technology. Seriously, a lot of people are lack behind with the advancement of technology.
Seriously, your friend's father has done a great thing by keeping some valuable amounts of Bitcoin for his son to inherit, but his father made a mistake by not encouraging his son to know about Bitcoin when he knew he wanted his son to inherit Bitcoin after he passed away. His father should have encouraged your friend to have some basic knowledge about Bitcoin, despite the fact that he doesn't want him to know about what he wants him to inherit, because if not for his father's good layer and Op's also a good friend, it would be a scam because he knows nothing about Bitcoin or lost the access to it.
Good thing the he has a friend like you on which who do really knows about Bitcoin and able to tell him about on what it is and does really have that value which he could really make use of on buying up something that he do wants but of course it would really be depending on the amount on his father was able to give out because if its really just that small then its something that you can buy on the things you do like or want. Not all people of the world would really be that knowledgeable or been wary about on Bitcoins existence and this is why you would really be seeing something similar like this.