Weightier Worship - Biola University

3 6
PUT YOUR NAME IN PRINT
New job? New degree? Baby?
House? Award?
We want to know your news.
Send it in!
E-MAIL
biolamag@biola.edu
MAIL
News & Notes, Biola Magazine,
13800 Biola Avenue,
La Mirada, CA, 90639
WEB SITE
www.biola.edu/biolamag
Please limit your updates to
60 words and include your years
of graduation or last year you
attended Biola.
Death announcements must be
submitted by a family member or
be accom panied by a photocopy
of a published obituary.
Photos must be at least 1 megabyte for digital
photos. Photo inclusion is based on space
availability. Print photos will not be returned.
Your update will appear in the first
available issue.
and Carissa works as a juvenile detention officer
for Maricopa County.
Adam (’05, M.A. ’06) and Laura (Bostwick, ’04)
DeClercq are proud to announce the birth of
their first son, Garrett Thomas, on March 21 in
Fullerton, Calif. Garrett weighed 8 pounds and
measured 20.5 inches.
Ryan (M.A. ’05) and Emily (Lenderman, ’04,
M.A. ’07) Buttes are delighted to announce the
arrival of their son, Chase Patrick, born Nov. 21,
2009 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
Ryan and Emily currently serve as missionaries in
the Dominican Republic. You can read more about
their ministry at www.stonesonthealtar.com.
Jeff and Joy (Buller, ’05) Walker joyfully
announce the birth of their daughter, Grace
Noel, born April 25, 2009. She arrived weighing
8 pounds, 10 ounces and measuring 19 3/4
inches. Jeff is a special education teacher and Joy
is a stay-at-home mom.
Rick (M.A. ’08) and Jennifer (Filakouridis, ’03)
Stoody joyfully announce the birth of their first
child. Madeleine Marie was born July 4, 2009.
The Stoodys live in Santa Barbara, Calif. Rick is
getting his Ph.D. in philosophy from UC Santa
Barbara. Jennifer was a pediatric nurse but is now
a stay-at-home mom.
Deaths
Patricia Kelso (’38) Lokkesmoe went home to be
with the Lord on April 14. She was 94. While at
Biola, she was the first editor of the Biola Chimes
newspaper and a member of the Evangel Girls
women’s quartet. She had been married to
Marvin Lokkesmoe for 63 years when he passed
away in 2005. They had three children — Tim,
Mary Pat and Jim — all of whom attended Biola.
Pat and Marvin had a love for missions and the
work of the Navigators and Wycliffe Bible
Translators. She is survived by her three children,
five grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren,
who will miss her greatly.
Christ in early July, at the age of 92. After
growing up in Minnesota, Montana and
Oregon, Olga began studies at the Bible
Institute of Los Angeles in 1940, graduating in
1943 with a degree in Christian education.
From childhood, God had placed in her heart a
desire to serve him, she thought, in Africa.
(Later, it was two of her sons who served there.)
At Biola she was impressed by a handsome
young man who worked with her in the dining
room. It was Curt Claassen, whom she married
on June 1, 1944, in Dallas, Ore. He too had felt a
call to missions, and to India in particular. They
boarded a ship for India in November 1945,
under the General Conference Mennonite
Mission Board. There they served in the fields
of evangelism, teaching in the Janjgir Bible
School, church planting, encouraging isolated
Christians in villages and mentoring Indian
evangelists. Their four sons — Lloyd, Gordon,
Eldon and Loren — all grew up in India,
graduating from Woodstock Boarding School.
In 1975 the family moved to Berne, Ind., to
serve in the First Mennonite Church, where
Olga taught Sunday school, participated in
Women in Mission and involved herself in
many other ways in church life. Olga is survived
by her loving husband, their four sons and
wives, her grandchildren and many nephews
and nieces.
Harry Luman Bascom (’49), age 87, passed
into the presence of his Creator on June 2, in
Santa Barbara, Calif. During his life, Harry
served as a pastor at three California churches:
Calvary Baptist Church in Monrovia, Cogswell
Road Community Church in El Monte and
Trinity Baptist Church in Santa Barbara. From
1951 to 1954, he served as a missionary in
Venezuela with the Orinoco River Mission.
Later, he served as a chaplain in the Los
Angeles County jail system and as a Los
Angeles County probation officer, specializing
in juvenile and family services. He received a
bachelor’s degree from Cal State Los Angeles
in the late 1950s and a master’s in psychology
with honors from Pepperdine University in
1972, and was a licensed marriage and family
Olga Rose (Schultz, ’43) Claassen entered the
heavenly presence of her Lord and Savior Jesus Continued on page 38
B I O L A