John Kloss

John William “Bill” Kloss, age 92, of Erie, died Tuesday, December 3, 2019 at ForestView Healthcare Center.

He was born September 14, 1927, in Cleveland, OH, son of the late John Edgar and Helen Louise Dauber Kloss. 

Bill graduated from South Park High School, Buffalo, NY and received his Bachelors degree in Physics from the Case Institute of Technology, Cleveland, OH, in 1951. He was a member of the Zeta Psi Fraternity.

He attended Syracuse University and Rutgers University for military training under the Army Specialized Training Reserve Program (ASTRP). 

He served in the United States Army Air Force from 1944 until 1946. He was a Public Relations Photographer in the Philippine Islands and later in the United States Air Force Reserves for 433rd Troop Carrier Wing in Cleveland, OH.

From 1951 through 1996 Bill worked for the Lord Corporation where he began in the Engineering Research Department and retired as a Senior Staff Engineer in the laboratory of the Engineering Services Department.

He was a member of Tyrian Commonwealth Lodge No. 362 F. & A.M. and a member of the Scottish Rite Bodies, Valley of Erie. Bill was also an active member of the York Rite Bodies: Temple Chapter No. 215, Jerusalem Council No. 33, Mt. Olivet Commandery No. 30, and St. John’s Conclave, Red Cross of Constantine, which is the highest honorary order of the York Rite Bodies.

In addition, he was a member of the Philalethes Society, Scottish Rite Research Society, Masonic Book Club, and a corresponding member of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge of Research in London, England.

He was a member of the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) where he was author of the current standard guide for the testing of rubber.

Bill was a member of the First Presbyterian Church of the Covenant, and the Episcopal Cathedral of St. Paul.

In 2006, he was preceded in death by his wife, Lois Anne Peterson Kloss, whom he married September 25, 1951 and by his daughter, Elizabeth “Betsey” Kloss of Philadelphia.

Survivors include his children, Reverend Kay Balderose and her husband George of Pittsburgh, Dorothy Jean Kloss of Cambridge Springs, David Arnold Kloss and his wife Meredith, of Wadena, Minnesota.  He is further survived by nine grandchildren: David George and Christina George Gallagher, John, Lindsey Anne, Jenette and James Kloss, and Savannah, Jackson, and Austin Kramer and four great-grandchildren.