Klassen, Helen Bohn (1928-1969)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1969 Mar 20 p. 3

Birth date: 1928

text of obituary:

Oaklawn Director's Wife Killed by Assailant

Elkhart, Ind. — Funeral services were conducted in the Chapel of the Sermon on the Mount at Mennonite Biblical Seminary here Monday forenoon for Mrs. Helen Klassen, 41, who died at the hands of an assailant at her home near Elkhart on Friday, March 14.

Mrs. Klassen was the wife of Dr. Otto Klassen, medical director of Oaklawn Psychiatric Center here, who was on a business trip to Bluffton, Ohio at the time of the tragedy. She suffered a number of gunshot wounds.

Elkhart County police were questioning a 23-year-old Elkhart man in connection with the murder after he was apprehended on Friday evening.

It is believed the fatal attack took place about noon. The tragedy was discovered by one of the Klassen daughters upon her return home from school about 3:30 p.m. The home is located on Route 4 at the south edge of the city.

Mrs. Klassen, the former Helen Bohn, was a member of the Hively Avenue Mennonite Church. Besides her husband she leaves four daughters, Ruth, Frieda, Beth and Susie, all of the home; her parents, Rev. and Mrs. Ernest Bohn of Goshen; three sisters, Mrs. Carlyle Groves of North Newton, Kan., Mrs. Harold Hartman of Elkhart, and Mrs. Wesley Unruh of Athens, Ohio; and three brothers, Rev. Stanley Bohn of Bluffton, Ohio, Alden of Elkhart, and John of Ithaca, N. Y.

The memorial service was conducted by Rev. David L. Habegger and Rev. A. E. Kreider.

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Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1969 Mar 28 p. 10

text of obituary:

Search Continues For Man Who took Life of Mrs. Klassen

County and state police officers at Elkhart, ind. are continuing their investigation of the brutal killing of Mrs. Helen Klassen, wife of Dr. Otto H. Klassen, but at last report had made little progress in efforts to identify the killer.

Mrs. Klassen, mother of four daughters, was criminally assaulted and shot while alone at her home on March 14. Dr. Klassen is medical director of Oaklawn Psychiatric Center in Elkhart.

Hours after the slaying a 23-year-old man who is a patient of Dr. Klassen was taken into custody for questioning. Later, he was taken to Norman Beatty Hospital for a 15-day observation period. However, there was no tangible evidence at the time to connect him with the murder.

The Mennonite obituary: 1969 Apr 8 p. 241