VALPARAISO – “His Servant Heart was evident, he was well-loved, and he will be missed,” said Father Douglas Mayer, pastor of St. Paul, in describing Deacon Kenneth Klawitter, who passed away on March 15 after a short illness.
Funeral services for Deacon Klawitter will be held at St. Paul, beginning Wednesday, March 19, with the Reception of the Body at 3:30 p.m., visitation from 4-7 p.m. and Evening Prayers at 7 p.m. There will also be visitation from 9-10 a.m. on Thursday, March 20, followed by Morning Prayers at 10 a.m. and a Mass of Christian Burial at 10:30 a.m. with Bishop Robert J. McClory presiding and Father Mayer and Father Roque Meraz, associate pastor at St. Paul, as co-presiders. Burial will take place at St. Paul Cemetery.
“Deacon Klawitter had a gift for preaching, breaking open the Word for us, and he had a gift for connecting with the community,” said Father Mayer. “As with all of our deacons, he was generous with his time and had a great way of working with his brother deacons. Always gracious to provide a communion service when both priests were unavailable for morning Mass, he and the others were also willing to lead Eucharistic adoration on weekends.”
Deacon Dave Bergstedt also serves at St. Paul and worked closely with Deacon Klawitter, whom he knew since the 1990s. “He was full of life, an exciting guy that I met through the Christ Renews Weekends, before either of us thought of the diaconate,” Deacon Bergstedt said. “Several couples started a Bible study group and we rotated meetings at each other’s homes. Christ Renews turned into the Cursillo weekends, and then Welcome Weekends became the new version, which he worked with. He was very personable and very dedicated to his ministries.”
Ordained to the diaconate in 2007 with another St. Paul deacon, Jim Caristi, Deacon Bergstedt recalls that Deacon Klawitter “loved to have fun in anything he did, which included playing and coaching Special Olympics baseball and softball, playing the guitar, and performing in Chicago Street Theatre productions, including “It’s A Wonderful Life.”
“He had a great speaking voice,” noted Deacon Bergstedt, “and when he preached at church, he always began with the words, ‘Hello Church!’ It got everyone’s attention, and I know the congregation will miss that.”
Deacon Bergstedt happened to be at Northwestern University Hospital in Chicago with his wife, Jan Bergstedt, when Deacon Klawitter was flown in from a Porter County hospital for emergency surgery on March 10. “My wife was having a test, and when we found out he was also there, we sat and prayed with his family for a while,” said Deacon Bergstedt. “We visited him again on March 13 in the ICU, but he was sedated.”
Deacon Klawitter, a self-employed architectural designer, served St. Paul since being ordained in 2017, Father Mayer said. “He was in charge of the bereavement ministry. When families needed follow-up care after a funeral, he would write a card or note and let them know that we were there for them.
“His son Ben told me that he was ‘really good and patient with mom,’ Paulette (Giorgio) Klawitter, who had health problems even before she contracted COVID and died in 2021,” added the pastor, who shared an interest in gardening with the deacon. “We would ask each other if we’d ordered our seeds yet, and then if we had any tomatoes yet, and were they yellow or red.”
George and Sue Livarchik, St. Paul parishioners, were friends and neighbors with the Klawitter family for more than 20 years.
“Deacon Ken was one-of-a-kind as a man, Christian, Cursillista, father, spouse and friend,” said George Livarchik. “His blunt, ‘in your face’ style got your attention immediately, and in addition to ‘Hello Church,’ I remember he would turn and say to Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion, ‘Let’s go feed ‘em!’ which was his reminder to all of us involved that we are called to do our share to provide to the congregation with food for the journey … to go forward to do their share to spread Christ’s message of love and caring and sharing in the Word.
“He was an entertaining personality with a tremendous sense of humor – a spiritual and wonderful person,” Livarchik said.
Sue Livarchik said the two families lived just three blocks apart, and she appreciated the deacon’s handyman skills. “It was great to call; he would come by and do little projects. We have an older home and he got our doorbells working and looked at our furnace and told us who could repair it,” she said. “We did a family Rosary together for a time, and I work in the nursing home ministry and he would come to lead prayers when the priest couldn’t make it.”
Deacon Klawiter is survived by his children, Benjamin Klawitter, of Valparaiso, and Cayla (Joshua) O’Dell of Iowa, his mother, Carole Klawitter, and two sisters Kim Klawitter and Kathleen Klawitter.
