After graduating from St. Francis Preparatory School in 1939, Klemens began attending St. Lawrence University in the early 1940s but suspended his studies after the United States entered World War II.

During the Battle of the Bulge, Klemens was captured by the German Army and sent to a POW camp where he remained until it was liberated by advancing allied forces.

After graduating, Klemens married Barbara Griffiths that June and then directed youth ice hockey programs in Lake Placid.

Klemens served as the building manager for the Houston Field House but returned to Canton in 1955, first as a representative of the Fitzgerald Brewery and then as a claims adjustor for Utica Mutual, until his retirement in 1983.

While he lived in Canton, Klemens remained active in the youth hockey scene, coaching and teaching a generation of players in the north country.