Mary hired me to work at Logos Bookstore and opened a door to a unique set of experiences and special group of friends. I will be forever grateful for her guidance and friendship, and especially for introducing me to Beverley, my lifelong friend. Mary is now at peace with the Lord. Amen. 

I told Mary a couple months ago that she was Google before there was ever Google. She was a fountain of information to all of us who knew her. I remember our times together cooking laughing watching movies together. Calling Tom asking for instructions on how to set up the VHS player. Tom and Mary, what an amazing couple. I am in shock with Mary's passing. A bright shining light in my life for 30 years. Just gone too soon.



I couldn’t believe it when a friend called me on Tuesday December 1st. I had an email from Mary on the previous Saturday and while very ill, she sounded positive about her future. Our mutual friend and I have called, texted, cried, reminisced and expressed how important Mary was in our lives. My best description of Mary is admired friend and challenging mentor. As friends, we shared a love of textiles and crafts. As a mentor I always felt she challenged me  and all of her friend to be better and do better, to set goals and make active plans to achieve those goals. One of the last things that Mary mentioned to me in September was that she wished she had done more for women. She was still setting goals that are now up to us to achieve in her honor.



Mary Green Klaasen :  Our Treasure

I was part of the twenty-thirty-something staff who worked for/with Mary and Tom in the seventies, at Logos Bookstore in the French Qtr. of New Orleans.
Mary (and Tom) Klaasen helped to change my life,  broaden my horizons and world views.  What a special debt of gratitude I have for each of them!  The Logos family made me feel literate, loved and "grafted in".  
Thinking back to the funerals we experienced in the French Qtr., Mary would probably want us to have a brass band,  street  celebration upon her passing.   It would start slow and mournful and increase to a crescendo of joy and dancing to usher her to Heaven.   No tears.  Just delight. 
Mary,  what a wonderful legacy you created !  We all love you.  You deserve your eternal rest.     With Love,   Steve Tousey

( I have written more memories.  I will be glad to share them :  sstousey@msn.com )

I was heartbroken and shocked to hear of Mary's death. We had been texting back and forth beginning with our recent surgeries in the fall. I am especially sad for Tom and other family members. I pray that they may be comforted by the stories written and love expressed by Mary's many friends. 

Briefly, Mary Klaasen, whom I knew for over 40 years, was one of the most important people in my life. She was my first mentor during seven of the twelve years I lived in New Orleans. In fact, many years later, on Mother’s Day, my pastor encouraged us to acknowledge a woman outside of our families who had a significant influence on our lives. It took me less than a minute to think of Mary and then to send her my love and gratitude in a letter.

If any of you would like to see more of my memories, please email me at susan.schaefer@mac.com.



If one is fortunate, he or she will have multiple mentors throughout a career given over to meaningful work. Mary Klaasen, who once owned a Logos Bookstore in the French Quarter of New Orleans and who later invited me to serve (at a very young age) on the Association of Logos Bookstores' board of directors,  was my first professional mentor. She spoke into my life and a vocational discernment process at two critical junctures that led me in directions I would not have imagined on my own, and I have always been grateful. I was saddened to learn yesterday of Mary's death on November 30. I was to have had coffee with her in Dallas this past April. Sadly, that trip was cancelled due to the pandemic. When I wrote to tell her my trip was off, she said, "Promise me when you can travel I will be on your itinerary." I promised her she would be. My friends Becky Nestor Gorczyca, Rick and Susan, Lewis, Jay Weygandt
 and many others from Logos Bookstores will remember Mary. She shared much in common with my friend Steven Garber
 and spoke "visions of vocation" to me years before Garber put that vision into powerful words through his IVP book of the same title. I light a candle today in Mary's memory, and give thanks for her impact on my life. Her passing and my memory of all she taught me serve as a reminder and a challenge to invest in others' vocational journeys, where possible.

AVIS DE DÉCÈS

Mary G. Klaasen

18 juin 1942 – 30 novembre 2020

Ted Dickey West Funeral Home

Montrez votre soutien

Envoyez Vos
Condoléances

Partager
L'avis De Décès

Obtenir les mises à jour

Prestations de Service