Klassen, Henry F. (1900-1969)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1969 Mar 28 p. 2

Birth date: 1900

text of obituary:

Long-Time 'Rundschau' Editor Dies in Winnipeg

WINNIPEG, MAN. — Funeral services for the well-known former editor of Mennonitische Rundschau, Henry F. Klassen, were held March 6 in the Elmwood Mennonite Brethren Church here, with Rev. William Schmidt and Rev. I. W. Redekopp officiating. Mr. Klassen, 69, died March 2 of an apparent heart attack.

The "Rundschau" is the oldest Mennonite periodical which has been published continuously under one name. It was founded in 1877 to serve the newly established Russian Mennonite communities in the prairie states and Manitoba.

When Mr. Klassen became its editor in 1945, the paper came under the private ownership of a company composed of men from the Mennonite Brethren Church. Due to health reasons, Mr. Klassen relinquished the editorship in 1967.

"THE 'RUNDSCHAU,' more than any other of our church papers, did our brotherhood a real service in keeping before the constituency our Mennonites in the Soviet Union," commented Rev. Peter J. Dyck, MCC director for Europe and North Africa, and a brother-in-law of the deceased.

Among Mr. Klassen's other significant contributions in the field of Mennonite journalism was his founding of "Konferenz-Jugendblatt," the forerunner of "Mennonite Brethren Herald," church organ of the M. B. Conference in Canada.

Last year he had written a biography of his brother, C. F. Klassen, who preceded him in death in 1954 and who had been long-time director of the Russian and Danzig refugee resettlement service of the Mennonite Central Committee.

HE ALSO was managing director of the Winnipeg-based publishing house of the "Rundschau," The Christian Press, from 1945 until 1967.

A native of Donskaya in the New Samara Mennonite settlement in Russia, Mr. Klassen emigrated to Canada in 1924. He joined the Mennonite Brethren Church (North End) in Winnipeg in 1928 and was active there as Sunday school teacher, youth leader and deacon.

Survivors include his widow the former Kaethe Thieszen, three sons, Frank, Washington, D. C., Rudi, Tunis, Africa, Arthur, Minneapolis, Minn.; two daughters, Mrs. Peter Peters and Mrs. Lena Neufeldt; 15 grandchildren, three brothers, Jacob J., Winnipeg, John J. Montreal, Quebec, Nikolai, Abbotsford, B. C.; three sisters, Mrs. Justina Peters, British Columbia, Agatha, (Mrs. Emanuel Horch), Winnipeg, Man., and Elfrieda (Mrs. Peter J. Dyck), Akron, Pa.

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The Mennonite obituary: 1969 Mar 25 p. 209

Text of obituary:

H. F. Klassen, former editor of Mennonitische Rundschau, Winnipeg, a Mennonite Brethren publication, died Mar. 3 at age sixty-eight.