Ethel Odean (Stump) McKnight (2009)

HOLMES, MCKNIGHT, PATTERSON, STUMP, WALKER, WEAKLAND

Posted By: Kent Transier
Date: 10/17/2024 at 18:30:09

The Osceola Sentinel-Tribune
Osceola, Iowa
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Page 3, Column 1

Ethel McKnight

Ethel Odean McKnight, daughter of James A. and Ethel I. (Chase) Stump, passed away on June 5, 2009, at the age of 81. Odean had been residing at the Westview Care Facility in Indianola, where she was recovering from cancer surgery. On Friday, in the presence of her beloved husband, she placed her care in the hands of the Lord.

Odean was born on a farm in Dallas County, on April 22, 1928. She was the seventh of 11 children to be born to James and Ethel Stump. Odean attended school in the Dallas and Madison County Schools and graduated from St. Charles High School. Like other of this generation, she endured the rigors of the depression and worked in defense plants to support the war effort. Following the end of Word War II, she met her future husband, Earl H. McKnight. Wedding vows were exchanged on Nov. 16, 1946, at the “Little Brown Church” in Nashua. Earl and Odean have returned to this beautiful church several times during their 62 years of marriage.

Their marriage was blessed with two children, Rebecca and Jerald. The family grew and prospered on a farm just north of Liberty where Earl and Odean spent all of their married life. Odean helped with the farm work and, after her retirement from Furnas Electric in 1986, it became the location of a ceramic and craft business operated by her and Earl. The business kept them busy as they traveled throughout the state selling their products. Odean’s artistic talents were apparent in each item they sold. Although ceramics and quilting were her hobbies, flowers and gardening were her passion. The farm was always in full bloom and visible to all that came to visit or traveled the highway north of Liberty. The visits of the grandchildren and great-grandchildren were always meaningful to Odean and each left with produce from the garden or clippings from the flower beds. Odean loved to travel and she used those opportunities to fill her gardens with plants and clippings from throughout the country. Those clippings have been shared with three generations of children and grandchildren and stand as a testimony of the love that this wonderful lady has passed on to succeeding generations.

Odean was preceded in death by her parents James and Ethel; her sisters, Opal Sinclair and Helen Stump; brothers, Arthur, Lloyd, Dale, Gerald and Harold (in infancy).

Left to cherish her memory are husband Earl; daughter Becky Weakland (Larry) of Clear Lake; son Jerry McKnight (Lola) of Norwalk; grandchildren David McKnight of Omaha, Neb., Julie Holmes (Paul) of Denver, Colo., Curtis Weakland (Amanda) of Ankeny, Cynthia Patterson (Justin) of New Market, Minn.; great-grandchildren Taylor and Jordan Patterson, Megan Weakland, Amanda and Natalie Holmes; brothers Neal Stump (Phyllis) of Osceola, Lyle Stump (Lavena) of Granger; sister Darlene Walker (Tom) of St. Charles, and other relatives and friends.

In keeping with Odean’s request, she has been cremated with interment at Liberty Cemetery at a later date. Memorial services were held Wednesday, June 10, 2009, at Kale Funeral Home in Osceola, with Pastor Jerry Kramer from Medora Methodist Church officiating.

Memorials, in her name, will be presented to the Liberty Park.

Gravesite
 

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