Former Burnsville Principal, Local GOP Heavyweight Dies at 100
Walter Kloepping Klaus, 100, was State House Representative for Dakota County from the late 1950s to the mid-1970s.
Walter Kloepping Klaus died Nov. 16, 2012 at the age of 100. He was born April 19, 1912, the third and youngest child of George H. and Wilhelmina Kloepping Klaus at his grandfather's home in Empire Township, just a few days after the sinking of the Titanic. Klaus was reared in rural school system before attending Farmington High School and Hamline University. He studied teachingbut initally stayed on the family farm in Vermillion Township, called "Gentlehill." During World War II he stayed on the homefront due to an agricultural deferment, though he chaired the county USO. During the '40s he became active in the Republican Party. In 1948 was chosen as the county chairman,a post he held six times over his long life. He was elected to his …
