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Bess Klassen-Landis was 13 years old when her mother was brutally murdered in their home in northern Indiana, an event that changed the way Bess saw and interacted with the world. The year 2009 marks the 40th anniversary of her mother's murder. Bess, a Vermont resident and a member of Hanover Friends Meeting in Hanover, NH, was made a “Released Friend” by Hanover Friends on March 30, 2008. During the 2008-09 school year, with logistical, financial and spiritual support from Hanover Friends, Bess took a year's leave of absence from her art teaching job and has traveled the country, sharing her message of forgiveness, hope and healing.
In an effort to help abolish the death penalty, Bess has traveled to states that still have the death penalty, telling her story and why she feels harboring hate and fear do not help victim family members heal. She has worked with the Journey of Hope, from Violence to Healing, a grassroots organization that works to abolish the death penalty, as well as with individual states' coalitions against the death penalty, who arrange for speaking tours within their state. Bess has spoken and sung at dozens of universities, high schools, churches, and civic organizations across the country, including California, Oregon, Colorado, Montana, Missouri, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Texas and Virginia.
Bess is now on a national speaking tour and welcomes your invitations to speak. Bess will speak with faith groups, legislators, professional associations (defenders, prosecutors, police, mental health, etc.), murder victim family groups, civic organizations, prisons, community centers, student groups, universities, grasstops, and grassroots.
Link to Mennonite Weekly Blog
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