Arnold Christian Claassen, 88, retired farmer and stockman, died Wednesday, Feb. 20, 1991. Service Sunday, Emmaus Mennonite Church.

Survivors: wife, Ida; sons, Ralph A. of rural Whitewater, Glenn O. of rural Potwin; daughter, Gwendolyn Claassen of Owasso, Okla.; brother, Ernest G. of Whitewater; sisters, Esther Wiebe, Elsie Claassen, Hilda Entz, Edna Regier, all of White-water; six grandchildren.

Memorial has been established with the Back to the Bible Radio Ministry, Lincoln, Neb. Lamb-Nutter Mortuary.
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Wichita Eagle, The (KS) - February 23, 1991

POTWIN WILL REMEMBER ARNOLD CLAASSEN AS HUMAN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
Arnold Claassen may be remembered as the Patriarch of Potwin. He had a deep interest in local history, and his memory was unparalleled.

Mr. Claassen, who died Wednesday evening of a heart attack in his rural Whitewater home, was a human encyclopedia of Potwin. He cataloged important dates, numbers and events most of his life. Local students sometimes sought him out for information for school projects. He had kept logs of precipitation, temperature and such since 1948.

A third generation farmer, Mr. Claassen and his two brothers, Walter and Herbert, produced and sold seed across the country from the Whitewater-Potwin area.

In 1952, when he was 49, a tractor accident resulted in the amputation of Mr. Claassen's right leg above the knee. He was later fitted for a wooden leg but remained physically active.

Other survivors include his widow, Ida; son, Glenn of rural Potwin; daughter, Gwendolyn Claassen of Owasso, Okla.; brother, Ernest G. of Whitewater; sisters, Esther Wiebe, Elsie Claassen, Hilda Entz, Edna Regier, all of Whitewater; and six grandchildren.

Services were Sunday in Emmaus Mennonite Church. A memorial has been established with the Back to the Bible Radio Ministry, Lincoln, Neb. Lamb-Nutter Mortuary has charge.