North Wichita News

Chastain was beloved at Bethel as friend, colleague, mentor

The Bethel College community mourns the death of Thane Chastain, Wichita, a Bethel graduate with numerous ties of service and employment to the college.

Chastain, 62, died unexpectedly in his sleep Feb. 25. He was about to complete his 10th year with the Kansas Leadership Center.

The KLC first hired Chastain in 2013 to administer faith-based initiatives, before creating a new position for him, director of creative technology, to capitalize on his flair for using AV technology. At the time of his death, he was serving as KLC’s director of virtual learning and engagement.

Chastain was born in Hutchinson, Kan., and lived in Haven, Sterling and Pratt, Kan., where he graduated from high school. He graduated from Bethel College in 1982 with a B.A. in history and communication, and also completed a master’s degree in mass communication at Wichita State University.

Starting when Chastain came to Bethel as a student, he built and maintained connections to the college that have led to many other alumni considering him an important mentor and friend.

From 1985-87, Chastain was an adjunct instructor in the communication arts department. From 1988-92, he was on campus full-time, serving as director of institutional marketing as well as, at various times, resident director of Warkentin Court, instructor of communication and assistant to President Harold Schultz.

Damon Klassen, an alumnus and Bethel’s director of AV services and general manager of radio station KBCU, noted, “Thane was by and large the founder of the radio station as we know it today. He oversaw the building of the DJ booth we still use. He was the first general manager of FCC-licensed KBCU 88.1 FM.”

Susan Schultz Huxman, president of Eastern Mennonite University, Harrisonburg, Va., graduated in Bethel’s Class of 1982 with Chastain, and shared many adventures and activities with him during those four years.

Chastain had an “astonishing ability to model opposite skill sets with ease and with joy,” Huxman said. “I have never met anyone as comfortable and proficient both in front of a camera or in front of a stage – Readers’ Theater, oratory, serving as the master of ceremonies for special events with such grace and flair – as he was behind the scenes, running tech boards, sound, lights, etc.”

She went on, “For anyone looking for a ‘poster boy’ for what you can do with a history major, Thane Chastain was it! Look at the great careers he filled.”

In addition to his various roles at Bethel and his near-decade with the KLC, Chastain was a long-time sales rep for the yearbook company Josten’s; tech director at KWCH-Channel 12 TV in Wichita; a youth minister in the United Methodist Church; an instructor of communications (and colleague of Huxman) at the Elliot School of Communication at WSU; a consultant for the Tallgrass Film Festival in Wichita; and a long-time volunteer for the American Legion Kansas Boys State as well as too many other organizations and community groups to list.

“He was Bethel’s first IT director,” Huxman said, “taking the ‘audio-visual on a cart’ modality to a full-fledged IT system. He was a tech guy before tech was a thing. He started KBCU – and not only was in front of the microphone but enjoyed filling out the application with the FCC to get the radio license.”

As a student, Huxman said, Chastain “was an excellent forensicator in debate and public address during a remarkable stretch in BC forensics history, 1978-82, bringing home lots of hardware for his persuasive wins. Plus, he drove the forensics van and managed the BC ‘fleet car’ and the team’s luggage.”

Arlo Kasper, professor emeritus of theater at Bethel, said, “Besides his many – constant – roles as a student handling stage technical difficulties, especially in lighting and sound, he continued [at Bethel] later, very often including summer theater [camps] and touring. He was so capable, likable and willing.”

But perhaps Chastain’s longest lasting legacy is as a mentor to others.

Jeffrey Graber, Newton, now a financial adviser with Edward Jones, recalled being in his final semester at Bethel as a communication arts major and taking yearbook, required for his degree.

“Little did I know that class would change my life, because Thane changed my life,” Graber wrote after hearing of Chastain’s death. “Thane was the Josten’s rep who helped us complete the yearbook, and during one of those late nights we got to talking about the future, and I told him I was burned out of theater, and was thinking about television or radio.

“Thane’s the one who encouraged me to call KWCH. I suspect he also told [the person on the other end] to please take my call.”

Graber went on to work in television production, promotion, photography, stats coordination and digital sports management, finishing out as sports executive producer – along the way experiencing storm chasing, telethons, Survivor casting calls and high-stakes sporting events, among much else.

“All because of Thane. I always joked that I ‘blamed’ him for my almost decade-long television career, but I think he knew that really I owed it to him.”

“His many students to this day describe him as ‘the calm in a world of chaos’ and a man ‘who took my questions and ideas and raised my expectations of what I could do two or three- fold,’” Huxman said.

Klassen added, “He was a great advocate for anyone in need, and a great advocate for the value of a liberal arts education. He will be deeply missed.”

Christine Crouse-Dick, current chair of Bethel’s communication arts department, was working with Chastain on a couple of projects at the time of his death.

“Thane was not only an invested and active alumnus who loved Bethel College, he also selflessly offered himself as a long-term networking resource for communication arts students and graduates,” she said.

“If folks were trying to figure out how to use their education and their unique skill set, Thane was a wizard at helping them connect with potential jobs and employers in the communication field. Our department, in particular, will sorely miss Thane’s generosity and readiness to serve.”

Chastain was “kind, funny, a prankster – one of those unique ‘grand connectors,’ to use a Malcolm Gladwell term, to so many in Kansas, the country and around the world, in fields from A to Z,” Huxman said.

“I am so blessed and honored to have learned from Thane, and shared a precious friendship anchored by great Mennonite values. He was the best Methodist apologist for Mennonites I’ve ever met.”

“Thane was the epitome of ‘leave it better than you found it,’” Graber wrote, “and so many of us are proof. Rest in peace, friend. We will try to leave it better than we found it.”

A celebration of life will be held March 4 at First United Methodist Church in Wichita. It will be livestreamed at www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kx2w7Q8ilU

Chastain was preceded in death by his father, Rev. Phillip E. Chastain. His survivors include his mother, E. Jane Chastain, his brother and sister-in-law, Shawn and Debbie Chastain, two nieces, a nephew and his beloved dog, Jackson.

Bethel is a four-year liberal arts college founded in 1887 and is the oldest Mennonite college in North America. Known for academic excellence, Bethel ranks at #14 in the Washington Monthly list of “Best Bachelor’s Colleges,” and #24 in the U.S. News & World Report rankings of “Best Regional Colleges Midwest,” both for 2022-23. Bethel is the only Kansas college or university to be named a Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation (TRHT) Campus Center. For more information, see www.bethelks.edu

Original source can be found here.