Rev. Elton D. Bernard

Loretta Artigue was not raised Pentecostal. Her father was French and Catholic, and her mother was of Irish-German descent and Baptist. Edward Artigue was expelled from his family for marrying a Protestant and left the family home to set down roots near Port Allen, Louisiana. He passed away when Loretta was eleven years of age. When she was about seventeen, her brother came back from serving in the Navy and stayed out late each night. Thinking he was going to clubs to dance, Loretta begged to go with him. He led her to a Pentecostal church in Baton Rouge, where she received the Holy Ghost at her second visit and spoke in tongues for three days.

After graduating from high school and attending college in Tulsa, Loretta went back to Baton Rouge and immersed herself in teaching Sunday school, youth leadership, and other church activities. Along with Elton Bernard and two other single young ladies, she traveled to Plaquemine, to start a church amid much persecution. They held services in spite of the neighbors banging pots and running lawnmowers outside the open windows.

In 1955, Loretta married Elton Bernard and they continued to work diligently in the church, assisting in the start-up of a church in Port Allen. In 1956, David was born to the family, and in 1959, Karen was born. Julie was adopted in 1972 (in Korea).

On the night of February 19, 1960, they knew they had been called as missionaries to the country of South Korea. In preparation they each received ministerial license, started a church in Hammond, Louisiana, and then left for Korea in 1965, where they pioneered and established the United Pentecostal Church of Korea.

From 1965 to 1985 Elton D. (''Tony'') Bernard and his wife, Loretta, established the United Pentecostal Church of Korea which grew to twenty-two churches, the United Pentecostal Church Theological Institute, and three English fellowships for U.S. military personnel.

They conducted youth camps, camp meetings, conventions, minister’s seminars, and revivals under much persecution and through many physical hardships. During that time, he served as superintendent of the work and personally baptized about three thousand people. Sister Bernard taught and preached as much as her husband. For a number of years, they each pastored a church in the Seoul area. On many occasions, they preached separate, simultaneous revivals throughout the countryside.

Born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Elton received a Bachelor of Science degree from Louisiana State University and was employed as an accountant when he entered the ministry. He later graduated from Yenisei University Korean Language Institute and received a master of theology degree from Universal Bible Institute.

In the Republic of Korea, he served on the President’s Communist Infiltration Watch Commission and the Kiangsi Province Prisoner Rehabilitation Board, and by invitation of the President, he participated in the opening ceremonies of the National Center for Performing Arts. He has authored one book, one booklet, and numerous articles in Korean.

They came back to America in 1985, and pioneered two churches in Gonzales, Louisiana: the Pentecostals of Ascension and, with son-in-law Charles Hatcher, Centro de Vida, a Spanish-speaking congregation out of which have come three daughter works. Wilfredo Garcia, an immigrant from El Salvador, whom they won to the Lord, is now pastor of Centro de Vida and director of Spanish Ministry for the Louisiana District.

Life is very different these days from the hectic pace of missionary life. Sister Bernard suffers greatly in her body and provides a lot of the care for Brother Bernard, who suffered a massive stroke in 2010.

He passed from this life on March 08, 2017.