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THE
FOUNDATION’S FIRST & LAST CONTRIBUTOR, J. Frederick “Toby” Pingree , passes
on. The link to his Memorial Site is: MEMORY FROM:
Cordell Andersen —
"I met Toby in Guatemala City on May
2, 1956. I had just arrived as a new missionary speaking no
Spanish--even having failed my Spanish class in High School, but now had
to learn. Before being sent to Costa Rica the next day, I spent that
first day with Toby who was in the Mission Presidency. We
traveled around the city on buses and visited investigators--and while
doing so Toby taught me my first phrases in Spanish I choosing a couple
of sentences that was my testimony of the Restored Gospel. He inspired
me with the courage to stand in a Testimony Meeting the next Sunday in
San Jose, Costa Rica to bear my testimony using as best I could those phrases. I
never saw Toby again during the Mission, but afterwards we became
life-long friends and 9 years later after moving back to Guatemala to
dedicate my life to the Mayan people, Toby was the first to help with a
loan to help establish my agro-business, then later when my father
established the Foundation for Indian Development, his loan was turned
into the first donation of $5,000. Later he and his brother George
became life-long Trustees for the Foundation and generous supporters
throughout their lives--Toby being the first and the last to help in SAVING
THOUSANDS AND HELPING MANY TENS OF THOUSANDS OF MAYANS TO RECEIVE AN EDUCATION
. Toby was next to my father as a supporter and the most
sincere and virtuous man I've ever known--listed on the Guatemalan
Foundation's FINAL
REPORT as the 2nd of the TWELVE STRONG that made the
Foundation for 50 years. He loved and was loved and will be missed
dearly by uncountable Mayas he helped to flourish." Toby
visiting the Ariel & Ines Andersen
School in the Chuluc village of Patzicia, Guatemala soon after its
inauguration in 1987. March 2, 2021
Cordell Andersen —
"I guess I should say I'm sorry for
again adding something to the record of Toby--but there is so much that
wasn't mentioned anywhere. Toby's dedication to the Mayan peoples of
Guatemala through what today is the GUATEMALAN FOUNDATION, that I have
to add to his 50+ years of history helping to save
THOUSANDS & AIDING TENS OF THOUSANDS TO GET AN EDUCATION. By 1982
we had taken over what had been a private school named originally the
John Paul II School in Patzicia, and had to build for them for the first
time their own school. It had been organized after the Great Earthquake
of 1976 when all the schools in the Central Highlands had been
destroyed. A Catholic Priest helped a group of poor Indians to organize
the school with support by a the Protestant organization World Vision,
but by 1981 was being run by a Parent's Committee of Mormons, and was
being abandoned by World Vision. We stepped in to save the school but by
1983 my father had passed on and we were in crisis to finish building
the new school and support its 230 Indian students. Toby brought his
brother GEORGE on board who donated the Cottonwood Optical to the
Foundation, and then sold it to Knighton Optical for around $100,000+
that totally supported the school for 10 years during which time the
name was changed to The Andersen School by the Indian parents. George
continued to support the Guatemalan Foundation, along with Toby until
both of their passing. Many thousands of Mayan Indians owe their
"blossoming life" to the Pingree's and all the others who continued to
support the Foundation until it's retirement on its GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY
on August 19, 2017. Thanks to Toby and George and many others for
stretching out our work from the predicted 6 months to 50 years! How we
all love and miss both of them. See the history at www.guatemalanfoundation.org. *********
Toby
visiting the Ariel & Ines Andersen
School in the Chuluc village of Patzicia, Guatemala soon after its
inauguration in 1987.
