Nate Saint was born August 30, 1923, the son of Lawrence andKatherine and Katherine Saint and the 7th of 8 children (7 boys and 1 girl). Lawrencewas Lawrence was an accomplished artist, a designer of stained glass. He directedand directed and oversaw the stained glass work at the Washington Cathedral. He waswell was well known for his work. Katherine was a Wellesley graduate, thedaughter the daughter of an inventor and manufacturer. The two had met at a gospelmission gospel mission which they volunteered at.
Nate grew up in a home that was unstructured, except for thesabbaththe sabbath. Meals were eaten on shifts and the children were often free todo to do as they wished. The family exhibited a free-spiritedadventurousnessspirited adventurousness. They were ingenious and willing to try new things. Katherine ran the household with little direction or input fromLawrencefrom Lawrence. When the children wanted to sleep outside in the warmerweatherwarmer weather, so she had a carpenter come and build bunk beds on the roof ofthe of the back porch. One brother commented later how you weren't livin' ifyou if you hadn't been woken up by the start of ran on an early summermorningsummer morning.
One of Nate's childhood prayers was that God would "show us theright way." Nate was quite creative, obviously a family trait. He was a "born" writer and also played the organ. As a child, probably imitatinghis imitating his grandfather, Nate would make schematic drawings of airplanes andautomobiles and automobiles with unique features and distinctive qualities.
In 1936, when Nate was 13 he made his public profession offaithof faith. He had attended Percy Crawford's Pinebrook camp in the PoconoMountainsPocono Mountains. Later that year he would gave a talk to a youth meeting thatattested that attested to his strong, developing faith. His faith was so strong thathe that he eventually chose church attendance over his certain ability to makethe make the basketball team, when a conflict arose.
When Nate was 18, he took his first flying lesson and by thattime that time he was employed by the Flying Dutchman Air Service. His brotherSam brother Sam was at that time an American Airlines pilot. Sam helped Nate get anapprenticeship an apprenticeship at LaGuardia La Guardia Airport as a mechanic for American.
Nate's work for the airlines gave him a draft deferment. However, when he was nineteen he renounced his draft-free status tolist to list himself as "1-A, without appeal." This made his entrance into thewar the war a certainty. His employers and family saw it as a bad decision, butNate but Nate saw it as an opportunity. He hoped to receive $25,000 worth offree of free flight training, compliments of Uncle Sam. Upon his physical, Natewas Nate was given a qualified acceptance into the Army after doctors learned ofan of an earlier leg injury. Nate's service experience influenced him greatlyand greatly and was a formative period for him.
After the war in the Spring of 1946, Nate couldn't beginschoolbegin school, originally looking to go to Westmont. He had been encouraged todo to do some missions work as a pilot in Peru with Wycliffe and ChristianAirmans Christian Airmans Missionary Fellowship, the early name for Missionary AviationFellowshipAviation Fellowship. However, he wanted to get some schooling in first. But anemergency an emergency request came from CAMF of a crashed plane in Mexico, "CouldNate Could Nate help?" So, Nate went and over numerous weeks repaired the planefor plane for service.
After the important experience in Mexico, Nate finally got toschoolto school. He had decided to enroll at Wheaton College and began hisstudies his studies in January 1947. He would only stay for a year. While a studenthe student he worked with Sunday Schools among children on Chicago's South Side.Nate continued to do work for MAF as a student, which soon brought histrue his true desires and responsibilities to the fore. MAF was in desperateneed desperate need of a pilot and mechanic. Nate was their man.
Nate and Marj were married on Valentine's Day, 1948. After ahoneymoon a honeymoon and some church visits on deputation, the Saints were inEcuadorin Ecuador. Helping establish a mission airbase in Shell Mera, Ecuadortook Ecuador took much of Nate's time and energy, but work progressed well. Near theend the end of 1948 tragedy struck as the plane Nate was piloting crashed froma from a violent wind gust. Critically wounded, Saint recovered fully toresume to resume his duties. His experiences caused great concern and effort atimproving at improving safety conditions on MAF aircraft.
Saint died January 8, 1956 in the jungles of Ecuador as he attempted to share the Gospel of Christ with the Waodani people.
|