HAMPTON, Virginia (Mennonite Mission Network) – Mission worker Glendon J. Klaassen, who, with his wife, Reitha, served 18 years in Colombia, died Aug. 1 at his home in The Villages, Florida. He was 82.
A native of Mountain Lake, Minnesota, Klaassen was a graduate of Grace Bible Institute (Omaha, Nebraska), the University of Omaha (Omaha, Nebraska), Goshen (Indiana) College, and Mennonite Biblical Seminary (now Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary, in Elkhart, Indiana), where he obtained a Master of Divinity degree. He was ordained a minister in 1959 and in July of that year the Klaassens became mission workers in Colombia, South America, with the Board of Missions of the General Conference Mennonite Church. The agency is a predecessor of Mennonite Mission Network.
In Colombia, the couple helped to establish churches, taught in Bible schools, and shared the gospel of Jesus Christ in the community. They served in Cachipay, Ibagué and Bogotá.
The Klaassens returned to the United States in 1977, settling in Newton, Kansas. In 1979, Glendon became pastor of Hoffnungsau Mennonite Church in Inman, Kansas. 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 also celebrate Glendon’s life and the commitment he brought to the witness for Christ’s kingdom on this earth,” Stanley W. Green, executive director of Mission Network, said in a letter to the family. “We are inspired by his passion to see the church grow and many won for Christ. We pray that his example and the witness of his life may continue to challenge us in our calling.”
The Klaassens recently celebrated 60 years of marriage.
Glendon is survived by his wife, Reitha; four children, Mark and Susan (Yoder) Klaassen of Indiana, Steve and Evie (Wood) Klaassen of Florida, James and Catherine (Scott) Klaassen of New Jersey, and Steve and Marcella (Klaassen) Andres of Kansas; 11 grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. He is also survived by an older sister, Ethel and Ernie Neufeld of California; a brother, Marvin and Peggy Klaassen of Pennsylvania; and a younger sister, Jeanette and Paul Kroeker of Nebraska.
A memorial service will take place at Eighth Street Mennonite Church in Goshen, Indiana, Sept. 6 at 4 p.m. The family requests that in lieu of flowers, memorials be sent to Mennonite Mission Network, PO Box 370, Elkhart, IN 46515-0370.
