Bertha May Klassen, age 90, of Mountain Lake, Minnesota, died on November 5, 2026, at Sanford USD Medical Center and Hospital in Sioux Falls, SD.
Visitation will be on Friday, November 13, 2026, from 4:00PM to 7:00PM at Sturm Funeral Home – Mountain Lake and will continue on Saturday from 10:00AM to 11:00AM at Bethel Mennonite Church in Mountain Lake.
Funeral Service will be held at Bethel Mennonite Church on Saturday, November 14, 2026, at 11:00 AM.
Interment will be at Cornerstone Bible Church Cemetery in Mountain Lake.
Arrangements are with the Sturm Funeral Home in Mountain Lake.
Online Condolences may be left for the family at www.sturmfh.com.
Bertha May (Redekop) Klassen was born October 20, 1936 in Wolf Point, MT. She was the youngest of five siblings: Rosa, Calvin, Ella and Jacob. When she was one year old the family moved to Dallas, OR and at 3 years of age they moved to Mt Lake, MN.
Bertha graduated from Mountain Lake High School and attended Goshen College in Goshen, IN where she received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing. She married Loyal Klassen at the EMB Church north of Mt Lake and after returning to Goshen for 2 years, where Loyal finished his college degree, they moved back to Mountain Lake and settled on a farmstead south of town. They had three children: Loretta, Brigham and Timothy.
They farmed until 1996 when Brigham married and moved to the home farm site and they moved into a house in Mt Lake.
In 1983, after 25 years working as a registered nurse, Bertha decided she would attend a newly developed nurse practitioner program in Wichita, KS. When she was done she was offered a job in the Mt Lake Clinic by Dr Dallas Glick and Dr Alvin Wiens. They were wonderful mentors and mom was so grateful they took a chance on her as she was one of the first nurse practitioners in the area. She loved her job and patients and worked until 2010 when she retired after 25 years as a nurse practitioner.
Bertha relished her many volunteer roles. She was involved in the beginnings of the MinnKota Mennonite Relief Sale that raised money for relief efforts around the world. She was on the board of Care and Share and worked regularly on the sales floor. Mennonite Disaster Service benefited from mom and dad’s service. She took over the coordination of the Mt Lake Food Shelf and was on the service committee at Bethel Mennonite Church and spent much of her time gathering supplies for and making school and health kits and comforters to send to MCC.
She and Dad loved to travel so after dad sold the sheep and Brig was helping on the farm they took many vacations that they could not afford earlier, both in time and money. They returned to Europe quite often to tour and visit many friends that dad had made while in PAX service. China, Vietnam, Mexico, Belize, Eygypt, Paraguay, Ukaraine, Russia, Iceland and Canada were a few of more than 70 countries they visited. They made friends on each trip and we heard many stories about each of their adventures.
Bertha had many hobbies. Reading, puzzles, Mennonite history, gardening, crocheting, sewing, baking and watching Minnesota sports teams kept her occupied. She was currently working on a counted-cross stitch Christmas stocking for her youngest great-grandaughter, Zoey. Being of service to others was very important to mom. Her family’s early years were extremely difficult as they were very poor. She was always looking for an opportunity to put her talents to use to help others.