Mable Theresa Klassen was born about April 28, 1922 at home on the
family homestead near Vona, Colorado on the South Fork of the Republican
River to Emma Dulmer Klassen and Cornelius Klassen, the sixth of nine
children, and died of complications from lung cancer at her home in Fort
Collins, surrounded by her loved ones on May 15, 2006. Mable's life
included growing up in a large, loving pioneer family on land her
parents homesteaded on the plains of eastern Colorado, attending school
at the one-room Murphy School, living through the Dust Bowl years,
experiencing the 1935 flood on the South Fork of the Republican River,
and leaving home at age 14 to have an opportunity to attend high school.
Mable worked for the Cameron family of Englewood, cooking and cleaning
to earn room and board so she could attend Englewood High School. She
later completed nurse's training at Presbyterian Hospital School of
Nursing in Denver, graduating as an R.N. in time to join several of her
brothers in the military during World War II. Mable was a nurse in the
Navy, stationed at Mare Island, near San Francisco, where she worked in a
military hospital, treating wounded soldiers returning home on hospital
ships. During this time Mable met and married William Wright Corwin, a
career Navy man. They lived in San Francisco, San Diego, Bremerton,
WA, Astoria, OR, and finally Kodiak, AK during their time with the Navy.
In the early days of her marriage she became a licensed pilot and
enjoyed flying small planes all over the west coast. Upon retiring from
the Navy, they returned to William's home state of New Jersey. While
raising two daughters in the small town of Jamesburg, NJ, Mable worked
as a nurse in Sunnyfield Nursing Home, as an industrial nurse for Phelps
Dodge Corporation, and as a school nurse. She obtained her B.S. in
Health Education in 1976, after working on it for many years while
working full time. In 1978 Mable and William moved to Gig Harbor, WA to
be a part of their first two young grandsons' lives. Mable continued
her nursing career there, working at Western State Mental Hospital,
caring for patients with debilitating mental and physical conditions.
Throughout her working years, and beyond, Mable wanted, above all, to be
useful. Mable's passions in life were her family and gardening. She is
survived by daughters, Karen Gardner (Arthur DeFilippo) and Kathy
Corwin Doesken (Nolan Doesken) of Fort Collins, and her four beloved
grandchildren, Anderson Tice, USN, Pearl Harbor, HI, Nathan Gardner,
Gail Doesken, and Joel Doesken of Fort Collins. She was proceeded in
death by her husband and elder brothers, Dietrich (Esther) Klassen of
Goodland, KS, Paul (Joyce) Klassen of Joes, CO, and Ervin Klassen (Vera)
of Hayward, CA and her elder sisters Doris Klooz (Clarence) of
Sacramento, CA, and Edith Mae Hugley (Ernest) of Englewood, CO. She is
survived by her brothers Loyd Klassen (Opal) of Kirk, CO, and Cornelius
(Jack) Klassen (Audrey) of Bakersfield, CA, and her sister Helen Smart
(Herb) of Anacortes, WA.Mable's family is indebted to her loving
caregivers, Audrey Martin, Deborah Watts, and Mim Frisinger, without
whom caring for Mable in her home would not have been possible.Family
and friends are invited to a memorial service to celebrate Mable's life
on Friday, May 19, 7:00pm, at her home at 841 North Taft Hill
Road.Family and friends in eastern Colorado are invited to a memorial
service for Mable on Saturday, May 20, 3:00pm at the home of Opal and
Loyd Klassen, Kirk, CO. Burial will be at Fort Logan National Cemetery
in Denver on Tuesday, May 23, at 10:00 a.m. Memorial contributions
may be made to Hospice of Larimer County in care of Allnutt Riverside
Chapel, 1530 Riverside Ave., Fort Collins, CO 80524.
