Yvonne Chastain

With great sadness, the family of Yvonne Chastain announces her passing.

Yvonne Chastain was born on Valentine’s Day, 1941, in El Paso, Texas, as Yvonne Goodwin. At age 8, her family moved to Waco. In high school she became an avid competitive dance performer, mastering such dances as the jitterbug. It was in this endeavor that she attracted the love of her life, an Air Force airman from Missouri, stationed at Connally Air Force Base in Waco.  On June 30, 1959, she married Noble Chastain and soon became a stay-at-home mom, wherever “home” was while being a career military wife. Noble was stationed at Bergstrom Air Force Base, in Austin, Texas, in the early 1970s. After his retirement from the Air Force in 1974, they continued to make Austin their home for the next twenty-six years. 

Yvonne’s greatest virtue was loyalty, and it was with that strength she was able to be a steadfast supporter of her husband in forty-three years of sobriety. The Chastains regularly prepared meals for the forty–fifty members of the AA group that met at their home on weekends. Among her many talents, Yvonne also made and decorated an array of cakes, including wedding cakes, as a side business for years. Interestingly, she had an uncanny ability to remember birthdays and other dates, license plate numbers, and perform other number gymnastics, which not only served as party entertainment but enabled her to have a career in the banking industry until she retired in 2000. 

After retirement, Yvonne and Noble, who preceded her in death in 2020, moved to Cranfills Gap, Texas, and became members of Saint Olaf’s Lutheran Church. She remained active with her husband in AA support, church, and other community services. They always looked forward to being on hand to assist with the annual regional bicycle marathon in Bosque County. 

Yvonne was also a generous, compassionate, and quiet donor to those in need, and she made it her mission to call all her family and friends on their birthdays. In addition, she was popular for the many delicious homemade cheesecakes, and hand-crocheted baby blankets and prayer shawls, that she gave away.  

On January 4, 2023, Yvonne Chastain passed away peacefully in her sleep. It gives her children and grandchildren great comfort to know she is with her true love of sixty-one years. 

Yvonne is preceded in death by her husband, Noble Chastain; her mother, Lois Goodwin; and her sister, Lana Harlien. She is survived by her sisters Jeanne Tipton, and Wanda Baumeister; brothers Charles (Kathy) Goodwin, and Larry (Norma) Goodwin; children Michael Scott Chastain, Dedra Leah (Terry) Janda, and Paula Jeanne (Bill) Duncan.

Grandchildren: Michael Chastain, Noble Chastain, Rachael Janda, Emma Janda, Jeremy Janda, Jessica McCall, Riley Katzer, Avery Katzer, Cooper Katzer, Heather Valdez, Lindsey Gustafson, and Lauren Rangel.

Yvonne is also survived by nine great-grandchildren. 

Her memorial service will be held on January 28, 2023, at 11:00 am, at St. Olaf’s Lutheran Church in Cranfills Gap

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations are made to the American Cancer Society.

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