death_date death_place children birth_place image_size relatives nationality parents birth_date spouse image article_title education name occupation
8 january 1956 curaray river , ecuador kathy saint saint drown steve saint -lrb- 1951 -rrb- philip near hershey , pennsylvania , usa 220px rachel saint -lrb- sister -rrb- american lawrence saint katherine saint 30 august 1923 marjorie , 1948 & nbsp ; & ndash ; jan. 8 saint , 1956 -rrb- -lrb- née farris -rrb- -lrb- feb. 14 nate saint.jpg nate saint
 wheaton college nate saint missionary pilot
nate saint

nathanael `` nate '' saint -lrb- august 30 , 1923 -- january 8 , 1956 -rrb- was an evangelical christian missionary pilot to ecuador who , along with four others , was killed while attempting to evangelize the huaorani people through efforts known as operation auca .
nate saint was born in 1923 .
when he was seven he took his first plane ride with his brother sam , who would eventually become a commercial pilot for american airlines .
while in the airplane he discovered a love of flying .
his family was somewhat unusual .
his brothers made a sleeping patio on the roof of their home , and his dad built a roller coaster in the backyard .
when he joined the army he was stationed in las vegas nv , but was transferred to several other locations over the years .
a leg injury from a sledding accident caused him some problems while he was in the army .
about a year before he was discharged , he almost died while climbing a mountain in yosemite national park .
after that incident he learned to live life to the fullest .
in september 1955 , nate was joined by his teammates , jim elliot , ed mccully , pete fleming , and roger youderian .
saint finally found a also known as aucas settlement while searching by air .
to reach the tribe , saint and the team lowered gifts to the huaorani in a bucket tied to the plane .
the huaorani were widely feared by other ecuadoreans , because they combined a desire to be left alone with a willingness to use force .
they attacked and killed any intruders without provocation .
nevertheless , the tribe was excited on receiving the gifts and gave some gifts back .
finally , the missionaries decided to try to meet the huaorani on the ground ; and , on january 3 , 1956 , using the beach as a landing strip , they set up camp four miles from the huaorani settlement .
their initial contact was encouraging ; however , on sunday , january 8 , 1956 , the entire team was killed on the beach -lrb- known as `` palm beach '' -rrb- when armed huaorani met and speared them .
saint and the other four men became famous worldwide as a result .
`` life -lrb- magazine -rrb- | life '' magazine published a 10-page photo essay on the story , which was also covered in reader 's digest and many other publications .
today , a small school for missionary children in shell , ecuador , bears nate saint 's name .
rachel saint , nate 's sister , continued the mission efforts to the huaorani , which eventually came to fruition .
this resulted in many of these natives becoming christians , including those who had killed saint .
in 1966 , marjorie -lrb- marj -rrb- farris saint married abe van der puy , president of hcjb | hcjb world radio .
abe died in 2003 ; and marj died in 2004 , from cancer .
she is buried in hillcrest memorial gardens , south of ocala , florida.hillcrest memorial gardens is located at coord .
nate 's older son , steve saint , spent time as a child visiting his missionary family members and friends and getting to know the huaorani .
steve was baptized in the name of jesus christ by mincaye , who was the very man who killed his father but later converted to christ .
steve saint now works with the huaorani people and travels around the world , preaching the gospel , often accompanied by mincaye .
a documentary based on the story , `` through the gates of splendor '' , was released in 2005 .
the following year , a feature film , `` end of the spear '' , was released on january 20 , a week and a half after the 50-year anniversary of the killings .
steve saint also helped write `` jungle pilot '' , based on his father 's diary about his time in ecuador and work with the huaorani indians .
