Waldie Klassen

Obituary

Waldie David Klassen, aged 84 years, of Steinbach, MB., passed away peacefully at home in the early hours of Tuesday, March 4, 2025.

He is survived by his loving wife of 62 years, Levina Klassen, his children: Debbie (Ian) Penner, Wesley Klassen and Andrea Klassen. He is also survived by his cherished grandchildren and great-grandchildren: Madyson (Aaron) Ginter – daughter Evey and sons Kit and Cyrus. Mack (Holly) Penner – daughter Zara. His surviving siblings include Martha (Harry) Hildebrandt, Abe Klassen, George (Shirley) Klassen, Mary (Ben) Friesen plus numerous nieces and nephews, cousins and friends.

He was predeceased by his parents, David G & Mary Klassen as well as his sister-in-law Ruth Klassen.

Waldie & Levina were married May 10, 1962. They shared a life of growing their family on a small broiler farm which grew to a larger broiler farm. He loved what he was doing but questioned the role of processors who seemed to put the chicken farms at their mercy and whims. Waldie became a leading advocate for an orderly Supply Management Marketing System that would guarantee farmers a decent return. Six years later in 1968, with the leadership of Waldie, the Manitoba Chicken Producers Marketing Board was formed and Waldie was appointed to its Board of Directors. He subsequently also helped other provinces organize into a national system.

ln 1980 the Canadian Chicken Marketing Agency was formed, now known as Chicken Farmers of Canada. Waldie was a Director and also served as Chair for 3 years. In the 1990’s he was part of a team that successfully defended all supply-managed commodities during trade negotiations in Uruguay. His role in the National Agency took him all over the world for trade negotiations.

Thanks to work by Waldie in food safety initiatives, Chicken Farmers of Canada is the only Canadian commodity group to achieve Third Party Recognition from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and Waldie was the first Chicken Farmers of Canada representative on the Canadian Poultry Research Council.

It seems that maybe farming was not enough of a challenge for Waldie, as he usually had something else going on. ln addition to his 40 years being a leading force in the Manitoba Chicken Producers Marketing Board and the Chicken Farmers of Canada, he was also involved in Keystone Agricultural Producers, a Councilor in the RM of La Broquerie, Treasurer for the Steinbach MB Church, board member with Steinbach Housing Initiative, part owner of Stone-Klassen Funeral Home and a board member with Steinbach Youth for Christ. He also dabbled in beef cattle and grain farming and later invested in the hog industry. He was most proud of his role in the chicken industry and his nomination to the Manitoba Agricultural Hall of Fame was a very special honour.

Waldie and Levina travelled together on many of his business trips, but they also traveled for pleasure and saw a lot of the world. They took their children on a few of their adventures as well. Upon retirement, Waldie continued to play golf at every opportunity and Levina took golf lessons and from then on, every trip they went on had a place for the golf clubs. He also enjoyed an annual fly-in fishing trip to Northern Manitoba for a period of time and we heard a lot of “fishing” stories upon his return. As his children, we never really fully knew what he had all done and been involved in and that he was in such a leadership role, because he came home and was a loving husband, father and provider. He loved his kids, he loved his grandkids (he only had two and they were very special to him). He got to see 4 great-grandchildren come into this world and he was very pleased with that as well. He loved to celebrate and really enjoyed a good spread. Retirement was very good to him, as again, they got to travel a lot and called Arizona home for winter for at least 14 years. He really did consider that a second home and always looked forward to returning each year, however, when it got too hot in Spring, he was very happy to head back to his Canadian home.

Waldie was an innovative determined man and accomplished a great deal in his fields. He will be missed. As his health declined, he spoke of going home on numerous occasions. He’s home now.

The livestreamed funeral service will be held on Thursday, March 13, 2025, at 2:00 p.m., at Birchwood Funeral Chapel, Steinbach, MB.