Editor’s Note: This story deals with suicide. If you or someone you know is in a crisis or are seeking help, call or text the Suicide and Crisis Hotline at 988. Or call the Georgia Crisis and Access Line (GCAL) at 1-800-715-4225. If you need additional resources, the and the National Alliance on Mental Illness Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities have additional information.
GREATER DECATUR, Ga. ― In 1989, Olga Westfall lived in Eastern Ukraine. The Soviet Union was on the verge of collapse, and so was her life.
She was 21, spent much of her childhood caring for a disabled mother, and she was searching for answers in what she called an “ungodly” country. Westfall did not want to live like her mother, alone and suffering. She searched for answers in the library, where the Bible was prohibited. Her search led her to a fortune teller who stole her money.
When she walked into a Pentecostal church service in Ukraine in 1989, she was ready to die. The Soviets always told her that Christians invited people to church services so they could be sacrificed to God.
“And I was thinking to myself, well, even if they kill me, you know, I was ready to die anyway,” Westfall said. “I just will ask them to make it quick.”
Olga Westfall did not die in 1989. She found God, taught herself English and came to the U.S. in the late 1990s. She attended seminary school in the U.S and served as a chaplain in the Army before joining the Air Force.
“I think it kind of showed that God has a sense of humor,” Westfall said, smiling. “A woman from the former Soviet Union became a chaplain in the United States Army, leading American soldiers under God.”
She’s currently in the Air Force Reserves, and her full-time job is as a chaplain at the Atlanta VA Hospital, not far from where she resides in Greater Decatur. An on-call schedule for chaplains is taped to the wall in her small office. A Protestant, she occasionally fills in for other religions when there are no chaplains of that faith available. Here, Westfall can help people, particularly veterans on the psychiatric floor, who think life is no longer worth living.
“It gives me satisfaction to be in this job,” she said.
Olga Westfall talks with Helpingukraine.us founder Emory Morsberger during the “A Taste of Ukraine” fundraiser in Greater Decatur on Sunday, May 4, 2025. Helpingukraine.us is dedicated to providing urgent aid and support to the Ukrainian people suffering from the effects of war. DEAN HESSE/DECATURISH
Westfall hasn’t forgotten Ukraine, which has been fighting Russia since 2014, a conflict that escalated in 2022. She’s been raising awareness and funds for Ukraine’s war effort. Westfall makes and sells art and organizes fundraisers, like the Taste of Ukraine event held at her home May 4. While she doesn’t have an exact figure for how much she’s raised, she said, “It’s a good sum of money.”
Emory Morsberger, who founded the nonprofit helpingukraine.us, said Westfall and other Ukrainians living in Atlanta have raised about $100,000 for his organization and have helped other organizations, too. The funds raised at the May 4 fundraiser went toward medical equipment and “to support the defenders.”
“They never stop,” Morsberger said. “They lead the charge and people follow.”
Westfall met her husband, Clay, when she was in the seminary at Regent University in Virginia and he was in the Navy. They went out for coffee and never stopped seeing each other after that. They have three sons, two adopted from Ukraine. He called his wife’s story “unbelievable.” She didn’t talk about her childhood much when their relationship began. When her father died and Westfall traveled to Ukraine to claim his possessions, Clay saw pictures of her as a little girl.
“She looked just so sad,” Clay said. “The ladies in the town used to call her the girl with the sad face.”
Childhood photos of Olga Westfall. Photos provided to Decaturish
Westfall’s smiles come more easily now. She moves with purpose, helping veterans in two countries. Her family has hosted Ukrainian soldiers and chaplains in her home.
“She’s always there with open arms, ready to help,” Clay said.
Olga Gorman and Karyna Busch, two Ukranian immigrants who helped Westfall with the May 4 fundraiser, said her experience as a veteran gives her a unique perspective on the conflict.
“She has very strong faith,” Busch said. “That faith gives her strength and that strength she spreads to us through her work, through her organizing all these events.”
Carol Johnstone, Westfall’s neighbor, described her as a resilient woman with a gentle spirit.
“She’s a hero,” Johnstone said. “She’s someone who represents women in any war who see injustice and can’t get out there and get a gun, but they’re going to do whatever they can to support the effort. There have been women like that throughout history, but I never met anyone who did that.”
Westfall reflects on the moment she decided to save her own life and turn it over to God. Saving others from making the mistake she almost made 36 years ago as a young woman in Ukraine has become part of her life’s work.
“I wanted to be a message of hope that life is worth living,” she said. “With God’s help, we can make it and we can encourage others and help where we can. That gives me satisfaction, meaning of life. I’m not just existing.”