Paul Odean Knudtson (1928-2009)
KNUDTSON, ERICKSON, THOMPSON, JONES
Posted By: Ames Tribune
Date: 6/5/2009 at 19:48:29
THE AMES TRIBUNE, Ames, Story County, Iowa, Friday, June 5, 2009.
Paul Odean Knudtson, 81, of Cedar Rapids, died Thursday, June 4, 2009, at Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids. Services will be at 2 p.m. Saturday, June 6, at First Lutheran Church in Cedar Rapids, by the Rev. Kay M. Slocum. The family will greet friends two hours before the service at the church. Private family burial will be at a later date.
Paul was born April 23, 1928, in Roland, to Ben and Selma (Erickson) Knudtson, and attended school there until moving to Dysart in 1944, where he graduated in 1946. He went immediately to Iowa State Teachers College (UNI) where he earned a bachelor’s degree. in 1949. He taught in LeClaire for one year before entering the U.S. Air Force where he became an officer. He and Kathy were married June 2, 1951. He spent three years at Lackland AFB in San Antonio. Upon returning to Iowa, he taught and coached at Westside and Van Horne high schools. He earned a master’s degree from the University of Iowa in August 1957, and spent three summers working on a physical education degree at Indiana University. From 1957 to 1975, he was a teacher, coach and athletic director at Westmar College in Le Mars.
Two of his proudest achievements were to play in the state baseball tournament with Roland in 1944, and to coach his Westmar basketball team to the NAIA basketball tournament in Kansas City, Mo. He was selected as chairman of District 15 (Iowa) of the NAIA in 1969, and he held that position along with his Westmar responsibilities until 1975, when he moved to Cedar Rapids to pursue a career in insurance. He was a 50-year member of the Lions Club, having served as a zone chairman. He was a member of the Legion, Elks Club, and Phi Epsilon Kappa, a physical education fraternity.
He had a lifelong interest in and was a participant in sports, especially baseball, basketball and golf. He also was very musical, having sung in high school, college, musicals, church choirs and solos. His high school athletic teams will remember him teaching them “Shanty Town” on the bus on the way home if they won a game.
After retirement, he and Kathy spent the winters in Florida, San Antonio and Arizona, where he played a lot of golf. He was an avid University of Iowa and ISTC (UNI) sports fan. He also enjoyed the second cup of coffee at the Spring House with the table of sports fans.
He is survived by his wife, Kathy (Thompson) Knudtson; one daughter, Kari (Steve) Jones, of Chatham, Ill.; one son, Jeff (Mary) Knudtson, of Oconomowoc, Wis.; and four grandchildren, Benjamin and Jon Knudtson, and Connor and Tyler Jones.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to First Lutheran Church in Cedar Rapids or a charity of your choice.
Please sign the online guest book for Paul at www.murdochfuneralhome.com under obituaries.
Arrangements are by Murdoch Funeral Home and Cremation Center in Marion.
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