Ernest Chun

Ernest Chun was born September 1, 1928 in Honolulu, Hawaii. He sang in the late Bob Carbaugh's Honolulu Bible Training School choir in the mid-1940s. He was the baritone in a men's quartet that toured the evangelical churches on Kauai in 1949. Chun earned a BA at Columbia Bible College in South Carolina before moving to the Wheaton College Graduate School in 1950. He completed studies towards a degree in Biblical Literature (1956) and was ordained by the Southern Baptist denomination. One of Chun's ministries was with Wycliffe Bible Translators in the early 1950s. He trained at Jungle Camp in southern Mexico, followed by linguistic training at the Summer Institute of Linguistics. He was with the first group assigned to the Philippines (1953) and worked in Northern Luzon among the Isnag tribe to help deliver a New Testament, published in 1980.  He migrated after three years to Hong Kong to minister among the Cantonese in their native language. Chun spent his remaining fifty years on Oahu in a variety of career roles.  He taught public schools under the Department of Education and also in private Baptist schools. He was a private tutor and a supply preacher. Ernie sold life insurance and also memorials for the Hawaii Memorial Park. He met his wife Daphne in a singles group at the First Baptist Church in Honolulu. The couple also attended First Presbyterian Church of Honolulu where Chun served on the missions committee. Ernest also attended Central Baptist, and after he moved to Kaneohe in 2008, the Pali View Baptist. He performed the marriage ceremonies for several of his children and the blessing ceremonies for his four grandchildren. His children are Liz and Peter from an earlier marriage and stepchildren Elizabeth, Heather and Andrew. Ernest remained an enthusiastic Wheaton alum and attended each of the evening buffet fellowships begun in 1999. Rev. Chun died January 8, 2010 in Kaneohe at the age of 81.