Born on December 21, 1923 in Phoenix, Arizona, William Bryce Wasson was always concerned with the needs of the poor. He received his MA in law and social sciences at San Luis Rey University, Santa Barbara, California. He felt his vocation to serve as a priest, but due to an issue with his thyroid, the church would not ordain him. To help overcome that set-back, his father gave him a 100-dollar-bill suggesting that he travel to Mexico. The young man loved it in Mexico, he settled and gave lectures at university. But he still felt a different vocation and followed it.

In 1953 he was finally ordained a priest by the VII Bishop of Cuernavaca. Padre Wasson was assigned to the chapel in the Tepetates market district of Cuernavaca, and almost immediately instituted a daycare center for poor children. A year later he rescued a boy from a harsh prison sentence for stealing from his church’s poor box “because he was hungry.” Padre Wasson talked to the boy at the police station and asked to be given custody of him. The judge was surprised, but agreed and the next day assigned eight other imprisoned boys to the young priest. That marked the beginning of Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos* (NPH), which means Our Little Brothers and Sisters.

Padre Wasson has dedicated the last 50 years of his life to serving as a father, provider and teacher to more than 18,000 orphaned, abandoned and poor children. He has received international recognition for his work on behalf of children. NPH now cares for children and youth in nine countries: Mexico, Honduras, Haiti, Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador, Dominican Republic, Peru, and Bolivia.

Padre Wasson has written four books, three of them as a scripture scholar: 

On August 16th, 2006, surrounded by his children “the pequeños” he loved so dearly, Padre Wasson died in Cottonwood, Arizona. His legacy lives on through tens of thousands of children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren living and sharing today in Latin America and beyond.