Nate Saint was born August 30, 1923, the son of Lawrence andKatherine Saint and the 7th of 8 children (7 boys and 1 girl). Lawrencewas an accomplished artist, a designer of stained glass. He directedand oversaw the stained glass work at the Washington Cathedral. He waswell known for his work. Katherine was a Wellesley graduate, thedaughter of an inventor and manufacturer. The two had met at a gospelmission which they volunteered at.
Nate grew up in a home that was unstructured, except for thesabbath. Meals were eaten on shifts and the children were often free todo as they wished. The family exhibited a free-spiritedadventurousness. They were ingenious and willing to try new things.Katherine ran the household with little direction or input fromLawrence. When the children wanted to sleep outside in the warmerweather, so she had a carpenter come and build bunk beds on the roof ofthe back porch. One brother commented later how you weren't livin' ifyou hadn't been woken up by the start of ran on an early summermorning.
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 grandfather, Nate would make schematic drawings of airplanes andautomobiles with unique features and distinctive qualities.
In 1936, when Nate was 13 he made his public profession offaith. He had attended Percy Crawford's Pinebrook camp in the PoconoMountains. Later that year he would gave a talk to a youth meeting thatattested to his strong, developing faith. His faith was so strong thathe eventually chose church attendance over his certain ability to makethe basketball team, when a conflict arose.
When Nate was 18, he took his first flying lesson and by thattime he was employed by the Flying Dutchman Air Service. His brotherSam was at that time an American Airlines pilot. Sam helped Nate get anapprenticeship at LaGuardia 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 himself as "1-A, without appeal." This made his entrance into thewar a certainty. His employers and family saw it as a bad decision, butNate saw it as an opportunity. He hoped to receive $25,000 worth offree flight training, compliments of Uncle Sam. Upon his physical, Natewas given a qualified acceptance into the Army after doctors learned ofan earlier leg injury. Nate's service experience influenced him greatlyand was a formative period for him.
After the war in the Spring of 1946, Nate couldn't beginschool, originally looking to go to Westmont. He had been encouraged todo some missions work as a pilot in Peru with Wycliffe and ChristianAirmans Missionary Fellowship, the early name for Missionary AviationFellowship. However, he wanted to get some schooling in first. But anemergency request came from CAMF of a crashed plane in Mexico, "CouldNate help?" So, Nate went and over numerous weeks repaired the planefor service.
After the important experience in Mexico, Nate finally got toschool. He had decided to enroll at Wheaton College and began hisstudies in January 1947. He would only stay for a year. While a studenthe 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 desires and responsibilities to the fore. MAF was in desperateneed of a pilot and mechanic. Nate was their man.
Nate and Marj were married on Valentine's Day, 1948. After ahoneymoon and some church visits on deputation, the Saints were inEcuador. Helping establish a mission airbase in Shell Mera, Ecuadortook much of Nate's time and energy, but work progressed well. Near theend of 1948 tragedy struck as the plane Nate was piloting crashed froma violent wind gust. Critically wounded, Saint recovered fully toresume his duties. His experiences caused great concern and effort atimproving 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. |