- Dr. Curt Scarborough, Chancellor
Pillsbury’s Chancellor speaks on:
The Rest of the Pillsbury Story
As Paul Harvey said, “You already know what the news is; now you’re going to hear … the rest of the story.
Ed and Harriett made the trip from their home in New Jersey to attend the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis …“Meet Me in St. Louie, Louie!”
It was a new century, and the nation was celebrating! … Westward Expansion! … Centennial of the Louisiana Purchase of 1803! (That anniversary party was a year too late!) At the fair’s exhibitions, prizes were awarded in many fields, including Ed’s … who was an electrical engineer working for a man named Tom.
You’ve never heard of Ed or his wife, Harriett, but you’ve heard of Tom … Thomas Edison. And Edison allowed Ed, his chief assistant, to take out patents in his own name of the inventions he devised while working in their shop together along with several other men.
So it was that Ed’s invention won the blue ribbon at the 1904 World’s Fair. It was a small electrical device that came to be used in every home refrigerator ever made. Ed moved his family to St. Louis and built a factory to make that device. And that factory multiplied into many factories across the country … under the company name Century Electric. Later Ed’s company merged into Century-Gould, and he finally sold it to a buyer named Emerson … maybe you’ve heard of Emerson Electric.
With the multiplied millions of dollars he made over the years, Ed and Harriett Pillsbury … that was their name, Pillsbury … formed a foundation which supported many Christian causes over the years … in Missouri and across the nation and around the world. In fact, the Pillsbury’s founded Christian Civic Foundation in 1955 … the year Ed died. Ed and Harriett Pillsbury had three sons: Joyce, Fred, and William (all three now deceased). Joyce and Bill served on the Board of Regents, along with Linda Roos, a granddaughter.
Christian Civic Foundation later changed its name to FreeWay Foundation, which in 1991 established Pillsbury Institute of Applied Christianity … now called Pillsbury College & Seminary … the distance learning school with a personal touch.
So, who has touched you at Pillsbury?
Yes, it was Jesus who touched you at Pillsbury College & Seminary, but He may have looked like Dr. Dan Hite or Dr. Sharon Bartlett … or Maridel Eye or Keisha Thompson. He may have even looked a little bit like Dr. Curt.
In your church or in your counseling ministry … someday, someone may ask the question, “Who touched me?” The answer, of course: “It was Jesus!”… but He touched me through a Pillsbury graduate … my Christian minister or my spiritual counselor.
They’ll not know it. But they’ve also been touched by Jesus through a man and a woman who went to be with Him half a century ago … a dedicated Christian couple by the name of Ed and Harriett Pillsbury.
And now you know … the rest of the story.
- Dr. Curt Scarborough
