Remembering my husband, John C. Klassen

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 30/06/2016 (3465 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

My husband, John C. Klassen, passed away on Thurs., June 16, 2016.

Maybe you knew of him, or had heard of him, or listened to him singing, or sang in his choirs, or watched him play all the string and wind instruments he was capable of handling, or he did computer work for you, or you even had him as your teacher. He taught junior high at River Heights School  and was at Sargent Park School in the  last five years of his more than 30 years of schoolteaching.

In his youth, John was also a great baseball and hockey player. When he broke his right elbow, he had the doctor make a cast that would accommodate a hockey stick and a violin bow.

John took his mother’s motto to heart, which was: “Es wird schön werden” which translates to “everything will happen just as it should.”

In spite of this relaxed attitude, he did manage to get lots of things done; he built a bass violone (with six strings instead of only four) and was thus able to play much lower than the normal string-bass in many of the Bach cantatas. He also built a harpsichord with the help of a kit.

His junior high classes at River Heights School managed to perform Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 way back in the ’60s. His supervisor (Glen Pearce) supplied the school with all the instruments of a full orchestra, proving the confidence Mr. Pearce had in the conductor and his students  

The string classes John taught had the benefit of not only having him as their teacher but also as the instrument repair guy. Violin bows repaired by John proved a great saving (at least $70 per bow) to the Winnipeg School Division music budget.

He made friends with the caretakers in his schools and, as a result dangerous piano wheels and other minor emergencies were often resolved much more quickly than they otherwise might have been.

Not that he broke any rules, mind you. He was a man of many skills.

John drove small cars and drove them not too fast. His colleagues kidded him for his mild manner, saying, “John doesn’t swear at the other bad drivers. He just mutters under his breath, ‘Thou naughty knave!’”

School was one part of his life. He also played viola in the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra for 15 years, sang in professional choirs, conducted church choirs and taught boys to sing in school by changing the piano accompaniments to match the pitch changes of their voices.

He also conducted the Mennonite Community Orchestra for five regular concerts. His computer knowledge meant he was one of the first to teach computer sciences in the ’60s.

On a personal level I can say that I never had to call a repair man to our home but once. John fixed everything himself, except the washing- machine, and that was when the basement flooded one spring.

John passed away at the age of 81 years, and will be greatly missed

Bertha Klassen is a community correspondent for Elmwood.