CLAASSEN, John Jr. 1907-1943

CLAASSEN

Posted By: Tammy (email)
Date: 12/23/2016 at 18:13:19

John Claassen Jr. Commits Suicide By Hanging

John Claassen Jr., son of John Claassen of Grundy Center, committed suicide by hanging himself in the hayloft in the barn on the Elmer Geiter farm in Washington township early Friday morning. He hung himself with a quarter inch rope which was about 120 feet long. The barn has a high loft. He tied the rope to a platform near the roof of the hay loft.

Claassen had been employed at the Geiter farm since March. He worked there off and on last year. He had a car of his own. He left the farm Thursday evening after the day's work was done. He was out all night. His car was in the yard the next morning. When Mr. Geiter got up he looked for Claassen about the place and then went up the ladder leading to the hay loft and saw Claassen's body. He immediately notified the sheriff's office and the county coroner, L. D. Coffman. That was about 7:30. The body was still warm when the officers arrived. The coroner believes the man hadn't been dead over two hours before his body was cut down.

Coroner Holds No Inquest
Coroner Coffman was satisfied that death was the result of suicide and that no inquest was necessary. No one knows why the man took his life. He was single. He was in his 37th year. He was registered for the draft and had been given a 4-F classification, with no probability that he would have been called up for service.

John Claassen was born on a farm in Colfax township March 12, 1907. He came to Grundy Center when his parents moved here twelve years ago. His mother died on May 23 of last year.

Surviving are his father, two brothers and six sisters. The brothers are Dick of Colfax township and LeRoy, who is in the U.S. army and is in training in a camp in Oregon. The sisters are Mrs. Joseph Fisher, Toledo, Iowa; Mrs. Ben Geerdes, Wellsburg; Mrs. Eldrich Meyer, Dike; Mrs. Albert Siefken, Marshalltown; Mrs. Harm Klunder, Grundy Center; Mrs. Harm Rust, Wellsburg.

Funeral services were held at the Engelkes Funeral Home in Grundy Center Tuesday afternoon. The services were conducted by Rev. F. J. Langenberg. Burial was in the cemetery adjoining the First Christian Reformed

--The Grundy Register (Grundy Center, Iowa), 6 May 1943, pg 1

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Attend Funeral Services for Johnnie Claassen

Mrs. D. Claassen, Mrs. Ben Hoekstra and Virgil Claassen attended the funeral services held for Johnnie Claassen, 36, at the Engelkes Funeral home in Grundy Center, Tuesday afternoon.

The deceased who took his own life last Friday was a son of John Claassen of Grundy Center. He was unmarried. Survivors besides the father are 6 sisters and two brothers, one of whom, LeRoy, came from his army camp in Oregon to attend the funeral.

--The Wellsburg Herald (Wellsburg, Iowa), 5 May 1943, pg 9