Tribute to Estella Knott

KNOTT

Posted By: Betty Hootman-Volunteer
Date: 2/28/2014 at 17:02:07

Tribute To Mrs. Estella Knott

Estella Knott was a wonderful, wise mother and very loyal friend; a woman of keen mental ability and most generous of her time and gifts for others.

I first knew her when her children were small. She trained them to be Christians. Lest they should grow mercenary, they were taught to help others without pay but for the love of the service. One daughter kept a dusty street watered one hot summer for a friend whose aged mother lay ill. I knew from experience when the oldest daughter “baby sat” for me until she became a high school senior when the second daughter took over; but no pay for either.

Once a friend, always a friend. For years, she kept up an extensive correspondence with many absent friends, often writing until midnight. These many scattered friends, who are still living, mourn most sincerely the death of their loyal friend.

She kept her membership in the Friends Church, but when the family moved to Farmington, she was affiliated with the Congregational church. It was a number of years before I learned her name was not on the church roll. I said to my informant, “Mrs. Knott works harder for the church than many whose names are on the church roll.” She continued her church work and her personal interest in our missionaries as long as she was able. Her children were taught early to work wherever they could in the church, even if they had to “sing in the choir in calico dresses.”

Besides being closely associated with Estella Knott in church work. I was also associated with her in several other organizations, one of which was the Shakespeare Club. She knew more Shakespeare than all the rest of us put together. I marveled at her retentive memory and how many quotations, many were long one, that she could give readily. Her original paper one evening on “What Shakespeare Has Meant to Me” was a revelation and made a lasting impression. On another occasion in P. E. O., when all toasts were to given in rhyme, that of Mrs. Knott was a pleasant surprise. It was more than mere rhyme, it was real poetry.

She was a good neighbor, whether next door, or across town. I knew from many experiences, of which one was when I broke my right wrist. Summer heat was hard on this dear friend of mine, yet one hot July day, she brought her food gift, a fried chicken, near noon, a round trip was twelve blocks. A lady, who had recently moved to be near neighbors to Mrs. Knott, and this lady’s husband had been ill, said to me, “My what a wonderful neighbor Mrs. Knott is! I never can keep up with her.” She made many trips to visit with shut-in friends, often with gifts, faithful to the end, until she, herself, became a shut-in.

Mrs. Knott had an innate love of beauty. This characteristic was especially noticeable during the time of her semi-invalidism. The Dallas City friends and the women who cared for her, commented frequently on her keen pleasure in finding beauty in nature all about her.

Her influence for good on many people will still be felt though she is no longer with us. We do not give up such a mother, such a friend, willingly, yet not our will dear Heavenly Father, but thy will be done. Some day we will all understand.

Maude G. Owen

Source: Scrapbook of Unknown Origin, page 72