LUBBOCK, TX (July 1, 2020) – The Breedlove board of directors and staff wish to express their sorrow at the passing of Bill Kingsbery and their thanks for his work. Over 25 years ago, Bill Kingsbery and his wife Mary Louise Breedlove Kingsbery, were instrumental in the founding of Breedlove, at that time a special project of the South Plains Food Bank. The Breedlove name, Mary Louise’s maiden name and name of her parents’ airfield, was chosen in honor of the Kingsberys’ work and efforts to help establish what is known today as Breedlove Foods, Inc. Mr. Kingsbery will be greatly missed.
In discussions this week with Dawn Kingsbery, Mr. Kingsbery’s daughter-in-law, Bill Miller, CEO of Breedlove, expressed to her the organization’s great appreciation of Kingsbery and his family and shared that, thanks to his vision in considering innovative ways to fight hunger, over 2 billion meals have been produced and distributed since the organization’s founding, including 20 million servings currently attacking hunger issues related to COVID-19 for families locally, nationally and globally. Ms. Kingsbery responded, “All Bill wanted to do was fight hunger. He would be so thrilled to see what Breedlove has become and is doing today as compared to those first days in the beginning.”
Miller also shared, “Last fall, our team was honored by a visit from Mr. Kingsbery and his son Ted at the Breedlove facility. We were excited to be able to provide him a VIP tour of the current plant and show him first-hand how the legacy he helped start has grown into a source of food that helps feed the world.”
Tom Sell, Chairman of the Board for Breedlove added, “As a young man working for Congressman Larry Combest in D.C., I had the distinct pleasure of working with Mr. Kingsbery on his vision that Breedlove would partner with the U.S. government in providing highly nutritious and cost effective soup blends for our strategic diplomatic and humanitarian missions around the world and particularly among the most vulnerable populations. That vision, Bill's earnest work and immense Christian generosity have blessed millions of men, women and children over the last 25 years. And this is just the beginning. At Breedlove today, we have an incredible team who have totally bought in to Kingsbery’s vision and are working each day to do more to meet this need in more strategic ways."