Ryan Donald Chastain, 25, of Baker City, died July 7, 2005, at Woodlands, Texas, as the result of a motor vehicle accident.
His funeral will be at 11 a.m. Friday at Gray’s West & Co. Pioneer Chapel, 1500 Dewey Ave. Interment will be at Mount Hope Cemetery. Father Julian Cassar of St. Francis de Sales Cathedral will officiate. Everyone is invited to join the family afterward for a potluck celebrating Ryan’s life at the Eagles Lodge, 2935 H St.
Ryan was born on Oct. 17, 1979, at Baker City. He attended grade school at Brooklyn Elementary in Baker City and finished junior high and high school in the Pine-Eagle School District at Halfway.
Ryan was attending Universal Technical Institute at Houston at the time of his death. He was less than three months away from graduating with a specialty in Ford motors.
Ryan was married in April of 1999 to Aimie Shepherd. They had a son, Blake McCabe Chastain. They were divorced in June 2001.
He had two more children, Weston Chastain and Luke Chastain, with his companion Shakira Close.
Ryan was a fun-loving, kind and generous soul who will be greatly missed by all who loved him. He was active in all outdoor sports and loved camping, water and snow skiing, snowboarding, dirt motorbike riding, horseback riding, rafting in Hells Canyon, hiking, elk hunting and fishing in the Eastern Oregon mountains.
In his last conversation with his mother he said that he loved Oregon and could hardly wait to finish school to come home to the mountains he loved.
Survivors include his parents, Donald and Judy Chastain of Baker City; his brother, Wayne Chastain, currently serving in Iraq with the 116th; his grandfather, Leroy Phillips of Baker City; grandmothers, Mabel Dreher of Roans Prairie, Texas, and Ida Mae Chastain of Baker City; and numerous aunts, uncles and cousins.
The family is establishing a scholarship in Ryan’s name at the Universal Technical Institute at Houston. Contributions may be made through Gray’s West & Co., P.O. Box 726, Baker City, OR 97814.
Used with permission from: Baker City Herald, Baker City, Oregon, July 15, 2005
Transcribed by: Belva Ticknor