Aeschlimann, Alfredo (1904–1992)

By Eugenio Di Dionisio

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Eugenio Di Dionisio

First Published: January 28, 2020

Alfredo Aeschlimann, pastor, administrator, educator, served in the Austral Union Conference, Antillean Union, Mexico Union and Inter-American Division.1

Early Life and Ministry in Chile (1904–1936)

Alfredo Aeschlimann was born on June 5, 1904, in Traiguen, Mellaco province, Chile. His parents got to know the Adventist message through Carlos E. Krieghoff and Frank H. Westphal.2 He had a brother, Víctor C. Aeschlimann (1903–1985). In 1926 Alfredo attended Chile Adventist Academy. In February 1929 he married Dolores Hernández, and they had two children: Carlos and Lucy. Carlos was an outstanding pastor and evangelist.34

In the Chile Union Mission Alfredo Aeschlimann was a teacher in a primary school in 1928 and 1929. In 1930 he was the education and Sabbath School department leader. From 1931 to 1933 he performed pastoral and evangelistic work. From 1934 to 1936 he was the education and youth department leader.5

Ministry in Austral Union Conference (1937–1955)

In 1937 he was designated to be the president of Cuyo Mission, a church administrative unit that included the provinces of Mendoza, San Juan, and San Luis, in Argentina, where he stayed until the end of 1941.6 Later he became director of youth and mission at Buenos Aires Conference, in Argentina, from 1942 to June 1944. Then in Chile Union Mission he was involved in evangelistic and pastoral work.

He was designated president of Austral Union Conference, a church administrative unit that included Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay, from January 1946 to September 30, 1955.7 He acted as the first president of Austral Union Conference who was from the same union. The secretary-treasurer was Ner Soto.

Work in Inter-America and Final Years (1955–1992)

In 1955 Aeschlimann accepted the invitation to work as a teacher of the Antillian College, in Santa Clara, Cuba, and later he became the dean. From October 1961 to June 1970 he was the president of Mexico Union. From July 1970 to December 1975 he worked as ministerial secretary of Inter-American Division, with headquarters in Miami, Florida, United States.

He retired in 1975, with more than 47 years of denominational service. After his retirement He collaborated with the organization of the University of Montemorelos, and for a year he was interim president of Chile Union. He did translations for the Inter-American Division and also left articles for church reviews.8

Alfredo Aeschlimann died on December 24, 1992. He was a man of faith and action, a Creator of ideas, procedures, and original plans.9

Sources

Aeschlimann, Alfredo. “La importancia del culto y la adoración” [The Importance of Service and Worship]. El ministerio adventista [The Adventist Ministry], March-April 1980.

———. “La responsabilidad del pastor hacia los nuevos conversos” [The Pastor's Responsibility Toward New Converts]. El ministerio adventista [The Adventist Ministry], March-April 1979.

———. “La Unión Austral en marcha” [Austral Union Conference in March]. La Revista Adventista [Adventist Review], March 1954.

———. “Notas de interés” [Note of Interest]. La Revista Adventista [Adventist Review], March 1949.

———. “Notes From the Cuyo Mission.” South American Bulletin 14, no. 11-12 (November-December 1938).

———. “¿Poco, pero bueno o mucho y bueno?” [Little, but good or much and good?]. El ministerio adventista [The Adventist Ministry], March-April 1976.

———. “Terminamos la obra” [We Finished the Work]. La Revista Adventista [Adventist Review], March 1949.

Aeschlimann, Carlos E. Carlos E. Aeschlimann to friends. January 19, 1993. Archives of Argentina Union. Accessed on April 9, 2018.

Archive of Services Registries of Argentina Union. Alfredo Aeschlimann, Employee Missionary Record, November 30, 1939. Alfredo Aeschlimann, Personal Service Record, 1975.

Austral Union Conference file. Argentina Union archives.

Castrejón, Jaime. “Adiós, heraldos de la fe” [Goodbye, Heralds of Faith]. La Revista Adventista [Adventist Review] 93, no. 6 (June 1993).

Castrejón, Jaime. “They Rest in the Lord.” Flashes: Inter-American Division News, no. 437 (January 1993).

Clouzet, Gastón. “Necrología” [Obituary]. La Revista Adventista [Adventist Review] 89, no. 11 (November 1989).

Kalbermatter, Ignacio. “Notas de interés” [Notes of Interest]. La Revista Adventista [Adventist Review], October 1949.

Liernur, Ricardo. “Necrología” [Obituary]. La Revista Adventista [Adventist Review] 85, no. 12 (December 1985).

Murray, Walter E. “Changes in the Austral Union.” South American Bulletin 13, no. 6 (June 1937).

“News Notes.” South American Bulletin 22, no. 2 (Second Quarter 1946): 8.

Plenc, Daniel Oscar. “El autor de ‘La fe de Jesús’ ” [Author of “Faith of Jesus”]. La Revista Adventista [Adventist Review] 118, no. 8 (August 2018).

Westphal, F. H. “Chile.” ARH 82, no. 9 (March 2, 1905).

———. Sustentation Fund Application, August 22, 1930.

Westphal F. H., and Carlos E. Krieghoff. “Chanco.” La Revista Adventista [Adventist Review] 5, no. 2 (February 1905).

Zambra Ríos, Leopoldo. No con ejército, no con fuerza, sino con su Espíritu [Not With Army, Not With Strength, but With His Spirit]. Santiago, Chile: Servicio Educacional Hogar y Salud [Home and Health Educational Service], 1994.

Notes

  1. Archive of Services Registries of the Argentina Union, Alfredo Aeschlimann, Employee Missionary Record, November 30, 1939; Alfredo Aeschlimann, Personal Service Record, 1975.

  2. Ricardo Liernur, “Necrología” [Obituary], La Revista Adventista [Adventist Review] 85, no. 12 (December 1985): 31. At the end of 1904 Frank H. Westphal held a series of meetings in Chanco, Chile, where some members of the Aeschlimann family were baptized. F. H. Westphal, Sustentation Fund Application, August 22, 1930, in the author’s personal archive; Leopoldo Zambra Ríos, No con ejército, no con fuerza, sino con su Espíritu [Not With Army, Not With Strength, but With His Spirit] (Santiago, Chile: Servicio Educacional Hogar y Salud [Home and Health Educational Service], 1994), 82; F. H. Westphal, “Chile,” Review and Herald 82, no. 9 (March 2, 1905): 15; F. H. Westphal and Carlos E. Krieghoff, “Chanco,” La Revista Adventista [Adventist Review] 5, no. 2 (February 1905): 6.

  3. Carlos E. Aeschlimann was born in 1930 in Chillán, Chile. He graduated from River Plate Adventist Academy in 1951. He worked as a pastor and evangelist at Buenos Aires Conference (Argentina), at the North Argentina Mission, and at the Austral Union Conference. Soon he became president of the Mexico Union. File of the former Austral Union Conference, available in the archives of the Argentina Union, accessed on April 9, 2018. Lucy Irwing, de Apopka, Florida. See: Daniel Oscar Plenc, “El autor de ‘La fe de Jesús’ ” [Author of “Faith of Jesus”], La Revista adventista [Adventist Review] 118, no. 8 (August 2018): 9.

  4. Víctor C. Aeschlimann was born in Traiguén, Chile. He graduated in Chile Adventist Academy in 1930. He worked as a pastor in Chile and Argentina, and was president of Paraguay Mission. See: Ignacio Kalbermatter, “Notas de interés” [Notes of Interest], La Revista Adventista [Adventist Review], October 1949, 16; Liernur.

  5. Walter E. Murray, “Changes in the Austral Union,” South American Bulletin 13, no. 6 (June 1937): 4.

  6. Alfredo Aeschlimann, “Notes From the Cuyo Mission,” South American Bulletin 14, no. 11, 12 (November-December 1938): 6.

  7. “News Notes,” South American Bulletin 22, no. 2 (Second Quarter 1946): 8. See: Alfredo Aeschlimann, “Notas de interés” [Notes of Interest], La Revista Adventista [Adventist Review], March 1949, 16; Alfredo Aeschlimann, “Terminamos la obra” [We Finished the Work], La Revista Adventista [Adventist Review], March 1949, 3, 4; Alfredo Aeschlimann, “La Unión Austral en marcha” [Austral Union Conference in March], La Revista Adventista [Adventist Review], March 1954, 7.

  8. Alfredo Aeschlimann, “¿Poco, pero bueno o mucho y bueno?” [Little, but Good or Much and Good?], El ministerio adventista [The Adventist Ministry], March-April 1976, 5, 6; Alfredo Aeschlimann, “La responsabilidad del pastor hacia los nuevos conversos” [The Pastor’s Responsibility Toward New Converts], El ministerio adventista [The Adventist Ministry], March-April 1979, 9–15; Alfredo Aeschlimann, “La importancia del culto y la adoración” [The Importance of Service and Worship], El ministerio adventista [The Adventist Ministry], March-April 1980, 9–16.

  9. Jaime Castrejón, “They Rest in the Lord,” Flashes: Inter-American Division News, no. 437 (January 1993): 1. Jaime Castrejón, “Adiós, heraldos de la fe” [Goodbye, Heralds of Faith], La Revista Adventista [Adventist Review] 93, no. 6 (June 1993): 31; Gastón Clouzet, “Necrología” [Obituary], La Revista Adventista [Adventist Review] 89, no. 11 (November 1989): 31.

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Dionisio, Eugenio Di. "Aeschlimann, Alfredo (1904–1992)." Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. January 28, 2020. Accessed February 06, 2025. https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=DI6Q.

Dionisio, Eugenio Di. "Aeschlimann, Alfredo (1904–1992)." Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. January 28, 2020. Date of access February 06, 2025, https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=DI6Q.

Dionisio, Eugenio Di (2020, January 28). Aeschlimann, Alfredo (1904–1992). Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. Retrieved February 06, 2025, https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=DI6Q.