Irene Treva Chastain

Irene Chastain was born October 27, 1916 in Attica, Kansas and passed from this world to her heavenly home on June 2, 2020.

Irene was the beloved daughter of Wilbur and Gussie Welch, loving wife of Bert Chastain and loving mother of sons, Gary and Kerry. She loved her grandchildren and over the years to her great pleasure she had eight grandchildren, seventeen great grandchildren and four great-great grandchildren. She had eight siblings Pearl, Gerald, Harold, Donald, Vance, Benny, Ross and Fay. She loved her daughter-in-laws, Karen, who lovingly took care of her for so many years and Sherian, and her many nieces and nephews.

As a child Irene went to school and back with her siblings in a two wheel cart that her dad had made and was pulled by a horse. Irene had many interesting stories to tell about living through the Dust Bowl in Liberal Kansas in a dugout side of the hill home. The Dust Bowl wiped out the family farm as the land was no longer useful to work. She was saved at a church revival at the age of thirteen when her and her mother walked down the aisle to accept Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior.

Irene began her career after graduating High School in Liberal, Kansas as an elementary school teacher at the Macedonia County School in Buffalo, Missouri. After her marriage to Bert on January 7, 1937 near Buffalo, Missouri they then moved to Driftwood, Oklahoma where Bert worked in farming until their firstborn son, Gary, was born in 1940. They then moved to Wichita where Bert worked for Boing Aircraft during WWII with a team building B29 bombers. After the war they both managed a neighborhood grocery store in Wichita. Irene also worked for the City of Wichita in the treasury office for ten years before retiring. Irene left Wichita to live in Olathe, Kansas in 1998 to be near her son Kerry and his family until she passed away. She was a member of Olathe’s Nazarene College Church for many years.

When asked about what her secret was for a long life she replied, “Exercising every day, I always loved to walk. After I retired Bert and I would go to the mall before it opened and walked it for Bert’s health. I think about this every night when I go to bed – Why has the Lord let me live such a long life? Why has the Lord left me here so long, does he not want me in heaven?” she said with a chuckle.

Irene loved God with all her heart and raised her children to love the Lord. She loved to read her Bible and was a prayer warrior.

She will be missed by so many that loved her.

Private Graveside Service at, Resthaven Gardens of Memory, 11800 West Highway 54, Wichita, Kansas 67209.