SCHOLARSHIP FUND AT TEACHERS COLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, NAMED TO HONOR NATIVE OF LACHUTE, QUEBEC

Elsie Todd Klaassen Spent Nearly Four Decades Teaching Children With Mental Retardation

A scholarship fund for students at Teachers College, Columbia University, has been established in memory of an alumna who grew up in LaChute, Quebec, and spent nearly 40 years teaching children with mental retardation.

The Elsie Todd Klaassen scholarships--established by a bequest from Mrs. Klaassen's husband that will exceed $400,000--will go to Teachers College students who plan careers in the teaching of persons with mental retardation.

Mrs. Klaassen earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in special education at Teachers College in 1940.

After growing up in LaChute, Mrs. Klaassen came to New York City, where she met her husband, Willem Johan Klaassen, a scientist who spent his career working in the field of nuclear energy.

Mrs. Klaassen taught for most of her career in public schools in New York City and on Long Island.

She died in March of 1994 at the age of 87. Willem Klaassen died in December of 1994. Both of the Klaassens were living in Plantation, Florida, at the time of their deaths.

Mr. Klaassen, a native of Holland, came to the U.S. at the age of 15 as a scholarship student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Teachers College, a graduate school devoted to education across the lifespan and in and out of the classroom, is an affiliate of Columbia University but retains its legal and financial independence. More than 4,000 students are studying at the institution for master's and doctoral degrees. In the first survey of graduate schools of education completed by U.S. News & World Report in 1995, the College was ranked among the top four in the nation and first in the New York City area.

Published Tuesday, Sep. 18, 2001