Elva Cleo Knight

Elva Cleo Knight was born on Sunday, November 15, 1914, in Blue Mound, Kansas. She was the daughter of Oliver Winsett and Eva Josephine (Prevost) Lake. Elva grew up in Blue Mound, moving to Beeler, Kansas in 1957. She returned to Blue Mound in 1968. In July of 1988, she moved to Ottawa, Kansas; Topeka, Kansas in 1991; and Dighton, Kansas in 2000. In 2002, she moved to Idaho, where she made her home, until her death on Friday, September 29, 2006, at the age of ninety-one years. She graduated from Blue Mound High School with the class of 1932. In her later years, she attended several sessions of cooking school. Elva was a homemaker and farmed with her husband, until they retired in 1973. She also worked eleven years, from 1957 until 1968, as the school cook for the Beeler School District. She was a member of Bible Baptist Church in Ottawa, and former member of the Prairie Valley Sewing Circle and N.E.W. Club at Centerville, Kansas. Elva was a very caring person who especially loved children. When she and her husband worked at the school, the children knew they could always turn to either one for help. She loved caring for children in her home as well. She enjoyed creating craft items, which included dolls, crocheted afghans, and quilts for her family and friends to cherish through the years. On March 14, 1940, Elva was united in marriage with Albert H. Knight in Fort Scott, Kansas. He preceded her in death on September 28, 1976. She is also preceded in death by her brother, Oliver Lake; sister, Helen Rudisill; and two grandsons, Ronnie Schmalzried and Chris Wayne Hampson. She is survived by three daughters, Virginia Lee Schmalzried of Topeka, Kansas, Wilma Alberta Hampson of Rathdrum, Idaho, Navella Mae Richey of Topeka, Kansas; son, Charles Winsett Knight of Fairbanks, Alaska; two sisters, Thelma Mata of Kansas City, Kansas, Mary Yoakum of Blue Mound, Kansas; brother, Henry Lake of Blue Mound, Kansas; eleven grandchildren; and seventeen great-grandchildren. SERVICES: Funeral services will be held at Blue Mound Methodist Church at 1:00pm Wednesday, October 4, 2006. Family will meet with friends from noon to the service hour. CEMETERY: Sunny Slope Cemetery in Blue Mound, Kansas. Dengel & Son Mortuary, 235 S. Hickory, Ottawa, Kansas 66067, in charge of arrangements.