Ofreida Chastagner

Ofreida was the fifth of six children born to Henry and Julia Hunter. She was born on August 29, 1934, in Coleman, Texas.

The Hunter family moved between Texas, Indiana and Washington State during Ofreida’s childhood. Ofreida graduated from Richland High School in Washington state, and after working at the Hanford Nuclear Site for a year, she enrolled in Northwest Bible College in Seattle, Washington.

While attending Northwest Bible College Ofreida met Paul Chastagner and on July 13, 1956, they were married. After Paul graduated they accepted a pastorate in Bay City, Oregon. During their time in Bay City the church grew and so did the Chastagner family, adding Randy and Paula.

After four years in Bay City, Paul and Ofreida were approved by the Assemblies of God missions board and began itinerating in the Oregon district, raising funds to meet their budget for an overseas missions appointment. They travelled to Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1962, where Paul enrolled in French language school. While in Lausanne, Fred was born. In 1963 Paul finished his language training and they sailed for West Africa and their final destination, the country of Upper Volta. Paul had been born in Upper Volta to missionary parents so this was a homecoming for him.

During their first term in Upper Volta, the fourth Chastagner, Edmond Delewende was born. (Delewende means “Lean on God” in the Moore language). The Chastagners lived in Po where Paul served as a support and mentor to area pastors. Ofreida, while taking care of four children and managing the household, ministered to and with the women of the local church in many ways.

In their second term in Upper Volta Paul and Ofreida moved to the Assemblies of God Bible school in Koubri. Working at the Bible school had been a dream of Paul’s. Ofreida got involved in a variety of tasks, including preparing visual aids for the Bible school students to use on the weekends when they would travel to remote villages to minister, showing up to help deliver babies, and typing up the results of the Bible translation that was being done by another missionary that lived on the Bible school campus.

At the end of their third term, as the Chastagners prepared to return to the United states for furlough, Paul died in an automobile accident on July 4, 1976. When back in the States Ofreida convinced the mission board to allow her to remain in missionary service without Paul. She returned to Upper Volta with the three children that were still in school and lived in the capital city of Ouagadougou, where she served as the director of ICI (International Correspondence Institute), which provided several levels of Christian educational curricula including how to become a Christian and Bible and doctrine courses.

After serving a term as a single lady missionary during which time, besides managing ICI, she co-established a church in an unreached area of Ouagadougou, Ofreida returned to the States for furlough. Three of her children were now out of high school and living in the States. Ofreida decided to resign from the Assemblies of God World Missions and stay in the United States.

During the next four decades Ofreida lived near family in Oregon, Alaska, Oregon again, Washington State, and finally moved to Tennessee to live near Paula. Although she wasn’t “employed” as a missionary, Ofreida considered wherever she lived to be her mission field. She didn’t stop telling people about Jesus until several days before her heavenly homegoing, when she was no longer able to communicate.

Ofreida was preceded in death by her husband, Paul Chastagner, her parents, Henry and Julia Hunter, and her brothers and sisters, Wanda Hamilton, Salvator Mohr, Dean Hunter, Jiwan Hunter and Ruth Apgar.

She is survived by her children, Randy Chastagner (Melinda), Paula Frey (Rick), Fred Chastagner (Joy), Ed Chastagner (Shelley); her nine grandchildren, Adam Chastagner, Peter Chastagner, Rick Frey, Megan Snyder, Cayli Trinidad, Paul Chastagner, Alex Chastagner, Kevin Chastagner and Amy Chastagner and by her seven great grandchildren.

A celebration of Ofreida’s life will be held on Tuesday, May 20th, 2025, at 10 a.m. at First Assembly Memphis, 8650 Walnut Grove Rd, Cordova, TN, 38018.