In Memory of Peter Ostrenko(1956 - 2016)
- Name
- Peter Ostrenko
- Spouse
- Chieko Ostrenko
- Children
- Natalie
- Birth Date
- January 18, 1956
- Blessing Date
- July 1, 1982
- Ascension Date
- August 13, 2016
Our beloved and dear brother, Peter Ostrenko, pastor of the Tampa Family Church, unexpectedly ascended to the spirit world on the morning of Saturday, August 13, in his home. Peter was a long time missionary at his home state of Florida as well as worldwide. He was a man of many interests and talents such as bird watching, music, finances and more. He is loved and will be missed by his family and friends. He is survived by his wife Chieko, his daughter Natalie, and siblings Anne and Michael.
Let us join together in support of Peter's family during this important and special time and offer our prayers for his victorious transition to a glorious new life in the spiritual world.
Following is a biography from his family and Rev. Gary Chidester, District Pastor of District 5.
Sincerely,
Dr. Ki Hoon Kim
Continental Director
Dr. Michael Balcomb
President
Peter Ostrenko, 60, of Lutz, Florida, ascended on August 13, 2016. Born in Miami, Florida in 1956, he was the oldest son of Alfred and Gertrude Ostrenko.
Peter was a missionary and came to Hillsborough County in 2011 from Miami. He belonged to the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, USA. He was the pastor of the Tampa Family Church and enjoyed talking and connecting with people. He participated in mission trips to India, Russia, Korea, Israel and Granada.
Peter was an accomplished bird watcher; his life list exceeds 600 birds. He was also a fluent piano player and enjoyed playing his own composed pieces, and excelled at long distance running, especially in high school where he held many records. He enjoyed investments and closely followed Warren Buffet. In his last several years, Peter was the key caregiver to his father Alfred who taught his oldest son sailing, woodworking and other skills that Peter enjoyed throughout his life.
Left to cherish his memory are his wife of 34 years, Chieko, with whom he received the Marriage Blessing in Madison Square Garden on July 1, 1982. Other survivors include his beloved daughter, Natalie True Ostrenko of Lutz; sister, Anne Ostrenko Haldin and her husband Kenneth and their son Cameron of Atlanta, Georgia; brother, Michael Ostrenko and his wife Linda of Wilmington, North Carolina. He is cherished by many, including cousins Wit, May, Kim and Kay and countless others.
Seonghwa Ceremony
There will be a visitation on Wednesday, August 17, 2016 from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at Sunset Funeral Home, 11005 N. US Highway 301, Thonotosassa, Florida 33592.
The Seonghwa service will begin at 1:00 pm followed by interment in Sunset Memory Gardens.
Condolences, Flowers and Donations
Memorial contributions may be made in Peter’s honor to gofundme.com/2jq4mzzg.
Memories and condolences may be left online at sunset-fh.com.
If you would like to send any flowers, you may send it to the funeral home:
Sunset Funeral Home: 11005 N. US Highway 301, Thonotosassa, Florida 33592
If you would like to send any donations or cards to the family, you may send it to their home:
Chieko Ostrenko
2408 Vandervort Rd.
Lutz, FL 33549
- Time
- 1:00 PM
- Date
- Wednesday, August 17, 2016
- Location
- Sunset Funeral Home: 11005 N. US Highway 301, Thonotosassa, Florida 33592.
- Viewing
- 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM
Tom Cutts
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We will miss Peter.
He was a good friend, always ready to share with others. He was very energetic and outgoing. He was excited about meeting his neighbors and his tribal messiah work.
As mentioned in his biography, he was an avid bird watcher. Once during a break in an OSDP workshop in Las Vegas he rented a car and visited a nearby wildlife refuge. He was excited to see several new desert species. He once went on a Gulf of Mexico cruise to see pelagic birds. There was also a bird in my backyard that I could never spot. So,I recorded the bird singing, and Peter identified the bird from its song.
Peter had a great sense of humor and really enjoyed life. He always had some project he was working on. He was a delightful person to hang out with.
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Peter Freund
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Dear Peter:
Now you True life beguins, after your training on this side . True Father needs more soldiers like you.
In your spare time up there, I am sure you can watch many new birds.
May God give you many blessings.
Peter & Kimiko Freund
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Laura Taylor
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This was submitted to me for the Ostrenko family :
When coming to ND for the hometown providence, we went through many of the previous records, especially during the time of sending clergy to DC for ACLC conferences and when we visited many churches with our Japanese sisters. I was so grateful for such clear records left by the predecessors, our wonderful brothers and sisters who sacrificed so much during the times when witnessing was very difficult and required many conditions to move the spirit world. One name I saw so much on the records was that of Peter Ostrenko, which showed his notes and reflections.
Phoning and visiting clergy was not easy in ND. Sometimes I would say to them, “You may have met Peter Ostrenko previously,” and this wording brought such a positive result! Many would say, “Oh, my gosh, would you tell Peter hello from me? Did you know he met Rev. Moon in person? or He worked hard in the cold winters, getting persecuted for his faith. We found that he was the true Christian, as he did not resent the treatment he received but took it upon himself to forgive others. He came back to us and treated us kindly no matter how we rejected him. In the end, he had more friends who thought they better listen to him just because they felt they wanted to show themselves in a positive light after being a persecutor themselves of Peter!”
I thought to myself that Peter must have really practiced a true life of faith. Although I never met him personally, the testimonies about him caused me to see he had genuine character that was admired by others.
We send our love to the wonderful Ostrenko family!
Sincerely,
Cindy Pfeiffer, North Dakota
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Laura Taylor Hayashi
| #
I will miss you, dear Brother! here are some memories from when we were so young and adventurous together. I hope they will bring comfort to all.
We met after Washington monument campaign for our church on our local, Washington D.C. Team. He was probable 20. I about 24. He had joined at 19, and was an enthusiastic fundraiser .
When I, the only sister, became the captain, I really wanted the brothers to share the responsibility. Peter was very good at keeping our product inventory supplied. This required more than you might think, because we were poor and sometimes we didn’t have enough. somehow we always had something though, with a lot of creativity and imagination. Sometimes we might sell books, or all different items, but we always had something. It could be challenging selling “Christianity in crisis” when Father was so controversial.
In the first few weeks, I discovered Peter’s love of birds. Sometimes I would pick him up, and instead of money he would have new bird sightings to tell me about. I tried to be calm, but we had a lot of debt from the campaign to pay off. What could I do? well, I let him talk and we rode for a while. His joy was infectious. I was curious what he would bring on his next pick up! well, he brought $300- which was more than the whole day for anyone else! Amazing!
I was recently at the Manassas civil war battleground, and remembered our time there. Before going out we all discussed the battle and compared our current spiritual battle to it. We discussed how we needed to be persistent and and strategic in helping people get blessings through making donations to help our cause. We decided to all go for the high security IBM building.
They had state of art cameras, lasers, ID pads -everything to keep unknown people out. They even had guards in golf carts! We observed their pattern and timing, and the most enthused volunteered. Of course Peter got all into this. He got past the golf cart and had about seven minutes, I could see he got past the lasers. Wait! He was stopping at this door, looking at his candy product box. The clock was ticking. At about six minutes, the electronic door opened and he was in and it closed when the golf cart returned.
The next two hours was pandemonium. Golf carts chasing some, others simply returning. Peter made the whole two hours, and had a whole lot of money! we all laughed and laughed at his stories. At the door, it had asked him for his ID number. Well he read off the barcode number on his product box. It worked! Inside, he remembered stories of members praying for invisibility, and it seemed to work. He was aware some were looking for him, but it was as if he was charmed\ and he missed them all.
Another time I was shocked when I returned to pick him up. His parking lot was cordoned off, and police were everywhere. When I asked, it seemed someone was on the roof shooting at people -OMG! I killed him by dropping him there! a tapping on my shoulder, there was Peter! He said “what’s happening? I thought this area wouldn’t be so good, so I went over there instead.”. I should have known! Peter was very spiritual.
Probably the event he loved best was when we were fundraising President Jimmy Carter’s inauguration with bags of roasted peanuts. Peter had a Bible, and at the right moment rushed past security and got That Bible into the Presidents hands. of course he literally disappeared after that in a sea of black jacketed security guards and was whisked away. I got out team together, and we prayed. I wondered if we would see him again! he came up, fine. they interrogated him and thought ge was an innocent type of nuts, and just let him go. later, another brother would go to camp David and actually taught the president some Divine Principle. We always knew that Bible was the foundation for that.
God bless you dear brother! So many more stories! You helped us laugh, and were always there to help. How much you loved True Parents! We know you are helping prepare places for us when we finally will join you
All my best, Laura Taylor Hayashi
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Helen Downey
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Dear Peter and all your family,
It does not seem possible that I never met you but after reading of your life and exploits I surely look forward to seeing you in the forever after. Thank you so much!
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Andrew Vance
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Peter:
I will miss you and our talks until we meet again. Thanks
Andrew
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Carolyn Yanai
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Dear Chieko, I was astounded when I heard that Peter had ascended. Just saw him a few months ago touring Wongu University. Wish I had had time to talk with him at that time, just to catch up with his doings. Hope all is okay with you. Much love, Carolyn Yanai
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