HOWARD H. CLAASSEN

Dear cousins John, Eileen, and Nancy,
I believe it was a prompt from God to look for Dave and Ruth on fb, so I could hear of Uncle Howard's passing this week. What an amazing man he was, and so used by God to bless others, including my family. I still think of Uncle Howard each Christmas, remembering "Poor little Jesus boy" that he often sang at our family celebrations. No one else could give a rendition like his! He was a Doctor but so humble in his attitude. I think he and my dad...

Dear John, Eileen, and Nancy, I was privileged to know your father for the decade of the 70s as his colleague in the physics department at Wheaton. Howard was a wonderful Christian colleague and I value every minute I was able to spend with him. He was a great physicist and as you may know such a lousy chemist that he didn't know better than to do what the chemist's said was impossible. He was so proud of his family and I was so proud to know him. I suppose he managed to keep the middle H....

I met Howard in 1970. As a young man, I had gone to churches that preached and tried occasionally to practice miraculous healing. Once I discussed this subject with Howard and he said that while God might indeed miraculously heal someone, it would also be the work of God if that person got better in the natural way. This affirmation that the natural world and all its creatures were the work of God and reflective of his character has stayed with me all these years. Howard pointed out that...

Eileen, Nancy, and John - Regrettably, Ruth and I knew Uncle Howard mostly from afar, but we admired him deeply and greatly enjoyed the occasional opportunities to spend time with him. I'm currently reading a biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and must say that your father reminds me of him - willing to stand by his unpopular beliefs, blending high intellect and deeply personal Christian faith, and living out a "full-service" faith that went far beyond personal pietism. We know that he was...

Eileen -
Dottie and I send our heartfelt condolences to you and your family at this time. I enjoyed getting to know your dad in the Men's Ensemble at UPPC. Wish we could be there to help celebrate Howard's life.
In Christ,
Dottie and Larry Kelley