Klaassen, Glendon J. (1933-2015)

Mennonite World Review obituary: 2015 Aug 17 p. 15

Birth date: 1933 Mar 30

Text of obituary:

Glendon J. Klaassen

Glendon J. Klaassen, 82, died Aug. 1, 2015. He was born March 30, 1933, to Jacob A. and Sarah Unruh Klaassen in Mountain Lake, Minn.

He grew up in Mountain Lake on a farm and accepted Christ at an early age. He graduated from Grace Bible Institute in Omaha, Neb., where he met the love of his life, Reitha Kaufman. They were married July 15, 1955, in Newton, Kan.

He continued his education at the University of Omaha in social work, graduated from Goshen (Ind.) College with a degree in secondary education in 1958 and in 1974 obtained a master of divinity degree from Mennonite Biblical Seminary.

He was ordained as a minister on July 19, 1959. He and Reitha confirmed a call to become mission workers in Colombia with the Board of Missions of the General Conference Mennonite Church of Newton. On Aug. 28, 1959, the left for 18 years of mission work in Colombia. They aided in ministries to children, teaching at Bible schools, setting up churches, teaching and leading people to know Christ and understand the joy of salvation. They returned to Newton in 1977.

He accepted the call to pastor Hoffnungsau Mennonite Church in Inman, Kan., in 1979; and in 1981 he accepted a call from the Commission on Overseas Mission to become the secretary of Latin America and later executive secretary, in Newton, where he retired in 1998. He enjoyed family, traveling, music, tennis and various collections, including stamps and foreign currency from his travels.

In 2011, he was diagnosed with Progressive Supranuclear Palsy. He fought the disease courageously and died at his home in The Villages, Fla.

Survivors include his wife of 60 years, Reitha; four children, Mark Klaassen and his wife, Susan, of Indiana, Steve Klaassen and his wife, Evie, of Florida, James Klaassen and his wife, Catherine, of New Jersey, and Marcella Andres and her husband, Steve, of Kansas; an older sister, Ethel Neufeld of California; a brother, Marvin Klaassen of Pennsylvania; and a younger sister, Jeanette Kroeker of Nebraska; 11 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

A celebration of his life service will be held Sept. 6 at Eighth Street Mennonite Church in Goshen.

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Mennonite World Review obituary: 2015 Aug 31 p. 13

Text of obituary:

Colombia worker, mission executive dies

THE VILLAGES, Fla. — Glendon J. Klaassen, who served 18 years in Colombia as a mission worker and later was a pastor in Kansas and a mission executive for the General Conference Mennonite Church, died Aug. 1 at his home. He was 82.

IN Colombia, Klaassen and his wife, Reitha, helped establish churches, taught in Bible schools and shared the gospel of Jesus Christ. They served in Cachipay, Ibagué and Bogotá.

A native of Mountain Lake, Minn., Klaassen was a graduate of Grace Bible Institute in Omaha, Neb., the University of Omaha, Goshen (Ind.) College and Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Ind.

He was ordained in 1959, and that year the Klaassens became mission workers in Colombia with the GC Board of Missions, a predecessor agency of Mennonite Mission Network.

The Klaassens returned to the United States in 1977, settling in Newton, Kan. In 1979, he became pastor of Hoffnungsau Mennonite Church in Inman, Kan. He also served as the Commission on Overseas Missions secretary of Latin America and eventually became the agency's executive secretary. He retired in 1998.

"We are inspired by his passion to see the church gorw and many won for Christ," said MMN executive director Stanley W. Green in a letter to the family.

Klaassen is survived by his wife, Reitha; four children, Mark and Susan Klaassen of Indiana, Steve and Evie Klaassen of Florida, James and Catherine Klaassen of New Jersey, and Steve and Marcella Andres of Kansas; 11 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren; two sisters, Ethel Neufeld of California and Jeanette Kroeker of Nebraska; and a brother, Marvin Klaassen of Pennsylvania.

A memorial service will take place Sept. 6 at Eighth Street Mennonite Church in Goshen, Ind.