Editing Klassen, John J. (1931-2001)

"Mennonite Brethren Herald" obituary: 2001 Jun 22 p.26

Birth date: 1931 Nov 27

text of obituary:

botsford, B.C. passed
away May 2 of cancer.
He was born Nov. 27,
1931 near Blumenhof,
Sask. At 10, he accepted Christ with help
from his sister and a
cousin. In 1947 the
family moved to a
dairy farm near Abbotsford. In 1948 he
was baptized and
joined the MB church.
He studied at University of British Columbia,
Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville, Ky.,
and MB Biblical Seminary in Fresno, Calif.,
graduating in 1958.
He matured spiritually
through IVCF and was
strongly impacted by
the Urbana mission
conference. He married Patricia Moore in
1956. They applied to
the MB Board of Missions. After studying
Portuguese for a year,
they began a Bible
school with 8 students
in Brazil in January
1961. He directed the
school for 10 years. He
also preached and
taught Sunday school
in local churches. In
1971 they were transferred to Sao Paulo,
where he worked in
theological training by
extension, wrote a
manual on the book of
Hebrews and served
as executive secretary
of an association of aries.
He was involved with a
local church and evan·
gelism, and pastored
for a year. He then
earned a doctorate in
missions at Fuller The·
ological Seminary in
Pasadena, CaliL, grad·
uating in 1977. He re·
turned to Brazil, where
he pastored a church
in Sao Paulo. He next
taught at the Bible in·
stitute, now a seminary, in Curitiba, especially church history
and missions. In 1996
they retired to Abbotsford and joined Bakerview MB Church. He
was active in the
church and did other
volunteer work. In
1997 they visited
daughter and son-inlaw Sue and johann
Zimmermann, missionaries in Mozambique. He taught a
month at the theological institute there. He
preached in the English service at Vancouver Chinese MB and
Pacific Grace Chinese
Churches. His desire
was to be useful and to
be a blessing. He is
mourned by Patricia;
john; 8 grandchildren
and mother Maria
Loepp. The memorial
service was May 8 in
Bakerview MB Church,
with Michael Dick and
Henry Thiessen ministering.

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