George H.W. Bush secretly corresponded with Filipino boy he sponsored 10 years

WASHINGTON – Nearly three weeks after former President George H.W. Bush's death, he continues to inspire. 

For 10 years, "41" corresponded with a boy in the Philippines he had sponsored through Compassion International, a Christian charity which aims to help impoverished children in 25 countries.

"Dear Timothy, I want to be your pen pal," reads the opening to his first letter to the 7-year-old in 2002. "I am an old man, 77 years old, but I love kids; and though we have not met I love you already." 

Bush's sponsorship of Timothy began after a Christmas concert in Washington, where the audience was told about Compassion International's work during intermission. When the crowd was asked if anyone was interested, the former president raised his hand. 

Wess Stafford, the former president of Compassion International, said Bush's compassionate gesture immediately raised concerns with his security team. 

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"It doesn't surprise me that he would want to do this – he's got that kind of heart – but we've got to think about how to do this safely," Stafford says the head of Bush's security team told him. "That little boy can't know that his sponsor is a former president of the United States." 

The security team feared Timothy's relationship with the former president could make him a potential target at a time when Abu Sayyaf, al-Qaida's affiliate in the Philippines, was heavily engaged inkidnapping. 

So, Bush began to send Timothy $38 a month along with letters signed "George Walker" and he didn't tell his new friend that his pen pal had once been the leader of the free world. Stafford would screen the correspondence to make sure Bush never made his true identity apparent. 

"I had a front row seat to watch this remarkable giant of a man reach out so lovingly to this 7-year-old boy," Stafford told USA TODAY. 

Stafford said that after Bush died, he was watching the casket in the Capitol Rotunda and wondering about all the amazing stories the powerful and famous people who knew him must have about the former president, when he thought, "Wait a minute, you probably know something about that man that nobody in that room knows." 

On Dec. 3, he shared the president's long-held secret in posts on Twitter and Facebook. 

"In the next few days we will hear many wonderful things about our beloved George H. W. Bush. What a remarkable man in every way!" he tweeted. "But you won’t hear some of the best...like, did you know that dear man was a Compassion sponsor?"

Despite the need for secrecy, Bush enjoyed sneaking the occasional clue in his letters. In one he sent when George W. Bush was president, he told Timothy he was spending Christmas with his son's family.

"He lives in a big White House," Stafford said he told the boy. 

In another letter, he shared a photo of his dog Sadie and told Timothy, "She has met a lot of famous people."

Timothy did not learn the true identity of his sponsor until he graduated from the program at age 17, Stafford said. Timothy was shocked to learn someone who was once "the most powerful guy in the world knows my name." 

Stafford said Timothy is now 25 and leads his church congregation in song with a guitar. 

Jim McGrath, a spokesman for Bush for 25 years, only learned of the president's sponsorship of Timothy when reports first surfaced in the media Sunday. 

"Had no idea – ever – that 41 did this, but not the least bit surprised. The kindest, most giving man. #Remembering41," McGrath tweeted. 

"I can tell you this is but one of seemingly countless acts of kindness that George Bush performed through the years without fanfare, but rather because it was what was in his heart," McGrath told USA TODAY in an email confirming the letters' authenticity. "He spent his entire life reaching out and trying to help lift the lives of others, both in and – as we see here – out of elected office."