February 14, 1923 - December 14, 1988
Lewis Haskell Chesshir
April 24, 1916 - July 22, 2003
To all those who knew and loved Haskell & Enid Chesshir, we thank you for your prayers, friendship and support. Mom has been gone now for twenty three years and dad left us nearly eight years ago. We continue to feel their presence and are still blessed by their testimony, love for God, and their fellow man. We hope that what is posted here will bless you and remind you that this life is worth living and is filled with purpose.
Obituary for L. Haskell Chesshir
LEWIS HASKELL CHESSHIR: Christian missionary, evangelist, educator, humanitarian, visionary and family patriarch. Chesshir was born in Centerpoint, Arkansas on April 24, 1916 and died July 22, 2003 in Nashville, Tennessee. Son of John Newman and Gene Harrison Chesshir, Chesshir grew up on the family cotton farm in Turkey, Texas.
After High School, he first earned his living as a traveling salesman. Feeling a strong calling for Christian ministry, he enrolled in David Lipscomb College in Nashville, Tennessee. There he earned his first college degree and met and married Enid Nadara Huff from Kentucky, a marriage that lasted forty-six years until Enid's death in 1988. The couple raised seven children of their own, one adopted Korean son and one foster Korean son.
Early in World War II, Haskell worked at Vultee Aircraft and was involved in church work in Nashville. He joined the U.S. Navy as a dental corpsman and served during the remainder of the war in San Diego and Pearl Harbor. After WWII, Haskell returned to Nashville in preparation to move with his wife, Enid, and daughter, Jenetta, to Honolulu, Hawaii to work for the Keeaumoku Street Church of Christ.
As the result of meeting a Korean refugee preacher, Mr. Chesshir began to develop a dream to reach the people of Asia for Christ. In 1948, Chesshir returned to Nashville with his wife and two daughters, Jenetta and Sherry, to continue his education at Lipscomb College and prepare for foreign mission work. His also received graduate degrees from Vanderbilt and Scaritt universities. Two sons, Phillip and Randall, were born in Nashville while he ministered to the Eighth Avenue and Park Avenue Churches of Christ. He partnered with others in developing a chaplaincy program at the TB Hospital (now Bordeaux). It is significant that this is where he spent the last 7 months of his life.
When the Korean Conflict ended in 1953, the Chesshirs began preparations to move to Seoul, Korea as missionaries. The family entered South Korea on November 29, 1954.
His Christian ministry in a war-torn Korea included:
- Feeding hundreds of people daily in a soup kitchen and making runs with trucks packed with food which Chesshir was able to buy or receive as donations from departing United Nations forces.
- Chesshir collected building supplies and engineering services from these departing armies in order to build orphanages, widows homes, and church buildings.
- On April 19, 1958, he founded Korea Christian College, which is today a 1200 student university.
- In 1963, in cooperation with the Kyunggi Provincial government, which paid shipping costs, Chesshir and his son-in-law, Sid Allen, a missionary/veterinarian, brought into Korea a herd of 91 bred Holstein and Guernsey heifers which were donated by U.S. Christians. The milk helped to combat tuberculosis and poor dietary conditions of the Korean people and helped promote the nation's infant dairy industry.
The Chesshirs had three more children, Mark, Vicki and Donald, adopted a Korean teenage orphan who was named John Haskell Chesshir, as well as educating and provided for a foster Korean son, Nam Yul (Bill) Lee.
The Chesshirs continued in their Korean mission involvement for thirty-three years until Haskell had a heart attack and stroke in 1987 and Enid's death in 1988.
Chesshir is survived by his second wife of fourteen years, Lani Kamauoha Chesshir of Hawaii and her sons and their wives, Laakea and Donna and Komaka and Pat, and Haskell's children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren:
- Children:
Jenetta Chesshir and Sidney Allen of Ft. Worth, Texas; Sherry Chesshir and Michael Irvin of Houston, Texas; Phillip and Theresa Chesshir of Temple City, California; Rand and Wendy Chesshir of South Pasadena, California; Mark and Becky Chesshir of Nashville, Tennessee; Vicki Chesshir and Julio Padilla of Nashville, Tennessee; Don and Jane Chesshir of Monrovia, California; foster son, Nam Yul Lee of Chattanooga and his children Seoul Shane and MinYa. - Grandchildren:
Laura Allen, David and Michelle Allen, and Stephen and Samantha Allen, all three of who are missionaries in Thailand; Amber, JaiSun and Christian Padilla of Nashville; Charlie and Tom Chesshir of Nashville; Julia, Susan, Nathan, and Johanna Chesshir of Monrovia, California; Jenna Galbo, Nadara and Emma Chesshir of South Pasadena, California; Hayley and Sarah Chesshir of Temple City, California; and Blake and Lizette Irvin of Richmond, Texas. - Great grandchildren:
Michael, Kaanan, Southern and Isaiah Allen of Bangkok, Thailand; Brianna and Brielle Allen of Chiang Mai, Thailand. - Other family members include brother-in-law, Boggs and Mayme Huff, sister-in-law June Boggs and Tom McCallum, and family friend/foster son JB (Jim) Baird of Nashville.
Mr. Chesshir was preceded in death by his first wife, Enid Huff Chesshir, and his son, John Haskell Chesshir.
Brother Pak, Byung Soo ñ Representative of the KCU Alumni:
When I was young - a freshman of Korea Christian College, I met Texan cowboy at Hyo Chong Dong Mission camp, Seoul, Korea. He wear nice hat. Looks very nice and smart. Looks like movie star. Brother Chesshir as missionary and founder of Korea Christian College, he plant seed of the gospel to Korea. Forty-five years later, now in Korea more than 100 churches of Christ growing. Forty-five years after he started Korea Christian College, now around 1500 students and 3000 alumni, 190 overseas alumni. Many young people grow up through Korea Christian College and Korean Church of Christ.
By the way, Korea Christian College last 45 years history has many problems, conflict, argument, but still the school grew up. Not only Korea Christian College has problems, but everybody has problems: me, you, American, Korean, everybody. So problem is not really problem. Real problem is how to solve the problem. We learn how to solve the problem by Brother Chesshir. Once I had argument with him, 1984. Korea Christian College has big problem, big crises. I visit Korea. I met Brother Chesshir. I argue with him about Korea Christian College existence and that problem. And so many years later, almost 20 years later, Korea Christian University grew up.
He planted seed of the gospel. He started Korea Christian University. At the time since the Korean War, Korea suffers with poverty and many problems. At that time Brother Chesshir came to Korea spread out the gospel not only he preaching, he interested in social work, education, and many fields. I remember he mentioned radio station for Korea Christian University. I believe he couldn't make a success that point. But he works with the churches. He left many things. Now he passed away. As Church of Christ members, as alumni, we keep growing with Brother Chesshir's name. Korea Christian University keeps growing. We never forget Brother Chesshir's name. May God bless Brother Chesshir's family. Thank you.
The video below was created for our family when dad passed away. Our parents founded Korea Christian University and their motto was "Teaching faithful men to teach others". This is a reminder to us that we are still called to this purpose and we hope you will be encouraged and desire to reach those who need to hear the
Gospel of Jesus Christ.
We want to thank Bart Millard for writing such a great song and "MercyMe" for their great performance and giving us the permission to share this video with you.
"I Can Only Imagine"
Performed by Mercy Me
Written by Bart Millard
Sadly, we have very few pictures of our mother. Our house in Korea burned down in the late 70's and
with it our memories including pictures from the early days of mom and dad's missionary work in Korea.
With what I had available I was able to make the video below. The music bed is phased and trying to correct it is impossible on this blog, but hopefully, you will hear past the music and see the heart of our precious mother.
"Love Waits"
Written by: Mark H. Chesshir
All instruments and recording by MHC
Vocals by Christine Dente
Video for Enid Nadara Huff Chesshir
The song in the video below was written to encourage and remind us that we are being changed
and we are all looking forward for that day to be completed!
I used the pictures of our family, a family that represents nearly every culture to portray the idea that as children of our earthly father and mother, we recognize that as we grow older
we see that we have changed throughout life and spiritually we have become so much like them.
written by John B. Cox and Mark H. Chesshir
All instruments and recording by Mark H. Chesshir
Vocals by John B. Cox
Dad, Mom, Jenetta, & Sherry
Haskell, Enid, Vicki, Sherry, JenettaRandall, Mark, Phillip
(and waiting for Don!)
Sherry, Don, Phillip
Vicki, Haskell, Enid, Randall, Mark
First missionary homes built by Houston Ezell in the early 60's
Mission to Korea
First buildings built for KCU
From the President of KCU: A Teacher's Responsibility From its birth, this institution has had its roots in serving the educational needs of the community. The university's founder, Mr. L. Haskell Chesshir, often quoted II Timothy 2.2: ". . . and the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others." One can say that teachers are entrusted to hand down the wisdom of the past, as well as to transfer specialized knowledge of an ever-more complex modern world. The mission of KCU is, therefore, to fulfill the trust bestowed upon us for constructively shaping the minds and the moral behavior of young people.
Daily news headlines repeatedly remind us of the perpetration of brutality rather than humanity, conspicuous opulence rather than simple comfort and pleasure, and larceny rather than ethical courses of action. KCU's God-given responsibility is to prepare young people to confront these issues in both their personal lives and in their careers. The principle of molding the minds of our students toward both temporal success and spiritual happiness, thus, permeates every department. An education in the liberal arts assures an awareness of basic principles of the human experience as they relate the present to the past. Religious studies guide students toward imposing morality upon the realities of materialism and inhumanity. Our mission is clear. We "give" to our students what we value, a proper education.
Koh, Seong Joo Ph.D * President of Korea Christian University
