Klassen, Peter (1891-1977)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1977 May 26 p. 5

Birth date: 1891

Text of obituary:

Minister-Editor Dies in Ontario

Served on Four Continents

FUNERAL SERVICES for Rev. Peter Klassen, 86, Mennonite churchman who served on four continents, were held Apr. 18 at the St. Catharines (Ont.) United Mennonite Church, it has been learned here. Rev. H. P. Epp, pastor of the United Mennonite Church at Vineland, officiated.

Rev. Klassen died Apr. 15 in a hospital at Niagara after a long illness.

A native of Osterwick, South Russia, Rev. Klassen attended schools in Russia as well as the Baptist Theological Seminary in Hamburg, Germany.

From 1912 to 1914 he ministered to Mennonite churches in South Russia and Siberia, returning to Germany shortly before the beginning of World War I.

TOGETHER WITH the former Bertha Stender of Germany, whom he had married in 1914, Rev. Klassen served churches at Wandsbeck, Lichtenstein-Callenberg, Hildburghaussen, Lasbeck Gut and Bad Oldesloe. In the last three towns he also served as a social worker. At Moellin he ministered to Russian refugees, 1929-1930.

In 1932 the Klassen family moved to Brazil, where he farmed and taught school, first in Witmarsum and later in Curitiba.

He published Die Bruecke (The Bridge) in the old Witmarsum Mennonite settlement (Krauel) and later assisted the late Dr. Fritz Kliewer in publishing Bible und Pflug (Bible and Plow) in the new Witmarsum settlement near Curitiba. The publication was launched in 1954.

REV. KLASSEN also served as Bible und Pflug editor from June 1957 to January 1959 and from December 1969 to April 1970.

Except for his second term as editor, Rev. and Mrs. Klassen spent the last 18 years in Ontario, first at Queenston and later at Vineland.