The world said farewell to Phillip Pipersburg Sr. on April 11, 2018, but the nonprofit he started, Visions of Hope S.B., Inc., a faith-based, cultural-awareness organization, continues.
Phillip was born in Belize, British Honduras. He and his twin sister were the first of eight siblings. Phillip loved sharing stories with his wife and children about his childhood, especially the time he spent on his grandparents’ plantation. There, he was able to run free and pick as much fruit from the trees as he could carry. Those memories brought sheer delight, as did his recollections of working in a lumberyard and helping his uncle build boats.
In Belize, Phillip attended Wesley Elementary School, where his aunt Valerie Hardey was his teacher. She demanded that he read Webster’s Dictionary and spell at top speed. After his family survived a hurricane that swept through the Central American country in 1968, they migrated to Santa Barbara, joining family members already there.