Claassen, Arnold (1918-2003)

Newton Kansan obituary: 2003 Sep 8 p. 2

Birth date: 1918 Mar 8

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2003 Sep 29 p. 8

text of obituary:

ARNOLD CLAASSEN

Arnold Claassen, 85, of North Newton, Kan., died Sept. 6, 2003. He was born March 8, 1918, to Jacob Peter and Margaretha (Goossen) Claassen near Beatrice, Neb.

He grew up on a farm near Ellis, attending grade school and one year of high school there, followed by two years at the Mennonite Academy near Beatrice. The next two years were spent working on the family farm, which he assumed at the time would probably be his life's vocation. However, in the fall of 1936 he sensed God's leading toward completion of high school, which he did, graduating from Beatrice High School in 1938.

After high school, he received certification to teach in one-room rural schools in Nebraska, which he did for four years. With the outbreak of World War II, he was drafted and entered Civilian Public Service in 1942, spending time at a Forest Service camp near Camino, Calif., a state mental hospital in Provo, Utah, and at Alexian Brothers General Hospital in Chicago. While in Chicago, he became interested in medical work, and after being discharged in 1946 he pursued his studies at Bethel College and the St. John's Hospital School of Medical Technology in Tulsa, Okla.

He married Anna Margret Reimer of Beatrice on May 31, 1946. In 1949, they moved to the Newton area, where they joined First Mennonite Church, and he took a position in the Bethel Deaconess Hospital laboratory, where he remained until his retirement in 1984, spending many of those years as chief technologist. In retirement, his activities included various church responsibilities, work with the Gideons International, volunteer tutoring, gardening, woodworking and spending time with his grandchildren.

Survivors include his wife, Anna Margret, of North Newton; three children, Timothy of Hutchinson, Samuel and his wife, Barbara, of McPherson, and Marjie Warkentine and her husband, Kendal, of Wichita; a sister, Gertrude Claassen of Beatrice; and six grandchildren.