| KNOWLES, Lance Keith: 1911 - 26 Mar 2003
Source: online newspaper posting
The Roanoke Times, Roanoke, Virginia, April 6, 2003, pgB3
KNOWLES, Lance Keith, 91, retired United Methodist minister, resident of the Roanoke United Methodist Home, went to be with his Lord on Wednesday, March 26, 2003. He was preceded in death by his wife, Mary Kathryn Knowles and one son, Norman Kiser Knowles. He is survived by one son, Lance Keith Knowles, II and his wife, Darlene of Chester, Va.; one grandson, Lance Keith Knowles, III and his wife, Juli and four great-grandchildren of Deltona, Fla.; two granddaughters, Alesa Knowles and Michelle Knowles of Chester, Va. A memorial service will be held at Greene Memorial United Methodist Church at 11 a.m. Saturday, April 19, 2003. In lieu of flowers, he may be remembered by a contribution to the Roanoke Valley Emory and Henry College Scholarship Fund, P.O. Box 950, Emory, Va. or the Art Series at Greene Memorial United Methodist Church, Roanoke.
Source: online newspaper posting
The Roanoke Times, Roanoke, Virginia, Friday, April 11, 2003
Minister loved creating furniture, tending garden
Because many parsonages that he and his wife, Mary, moved into lacked furniture, Lance Knowles taught himself to build.
By SHAWNA MORRISON, THE ROANOKE TIMES
Through nearly 20 years of springs, summers and falls, the Rev. Lance Knowles could be seen puttering around the grounds of Roanoke United Methodist Home, wearing his blaze orange hat and tending his plants. In winter, the retired Methodist minister would retreat to his wood shop. There he would spend hours creating elaborate pieces of furniture from scraps of old walnut and mahogany trees. Knowles, originally from Christiansburg, didn't slow down until weeks before he died of old age March 26. He was 91. From 1934 to 1976, Knowles served as a minister in churches throughout Virginia and a few in West Virginia. Because many of the parsonages that he and his wife, Mary, moved into lacked furniture, he taught himself to build. When
the couple moved into Roanoke United Methodist Home in the 1980s, Knowles turned an old stable at the former mansion into a wood shop. He claimed old trees that fell on the home's 10 acres. "He took the actual tree, had the lumber cut the way he wanted it, and had it dried the way he wanted it," said Elaine Lavinder, director of social services at the Methodist home. She said Knowles built furniture pieces to fit together like a puzzle - free of nails and screws. Even the handles were hand-made. "He was always making something for somebody," said his friend Carol O'Neill. He built for family, friends and the home itself. A cross and wooden candlesticks for the altar, an Advent wreath and the table it rests on. When someone donated a piano, he built a matching bench. But woodworking was only his cold-weather project; something to do when his real love was asleep for the winter. "He ordered, grew and planted most of the
flowers on the property," Lavinder said. In 1991, Knowles grew more than a ton of tomatoes. He gave them to everyone at the home and had plenty left over for the Roanoke Rescue Mission and RAM House. "But his pride and joy was the rose garden," Lavinder said. When drought struck the Roanoke Valley last summer, Knowles made sure water restrictions didn't affect his roses. Three times a day, Knowles would move from table to table in the dining room, emptying whatever was left in water glasses into buckets to water his roses. He would drive around on his golf cart and check on them daily. O'Neill, a master gardener, met Knowles a few years ago at Greene Memorial United Methodist Church. One Sunday they started talking about roses. Knowles told O'Neill about the rose garden he tended at the home. He explained that it was getting to be a lot of work. O'Neill
volunteered to help and was hired temporarily by the home. Knowles always worked by her side. "He was out there as much as I was," she said. Knowles' son, Lance Jr. of Chester, attributes his father's green thumb to growing up on a farm. His wife, Darlene, said she would give her father-in-law poinsettia plants that looked hopeless and he would bring them back to her full of life. Mary Knowles died June 15, 2001, 12 days before the couple would have celebrated 63 years of marriage. Jay Holdren, executive director of Roanoke United Methodist Home, said residents have approached him about honoring Lance Knowles and his wife with a plaque in the rose garden. "He had a spirit about him that was hard to match," Holdren said. "He was loved by everybody," O'Neill said. "He has touched so many hearts."
Source: online newspaper posting
The Roanoke Times, Sunday, April 13, 2003
KNOWLES, Lance Keith, 91, a resident of the Roanoke United Methodist Home, went to be with his Lord on Wednesday, March 26, 2003. Memorial service, 11 a.m. Saturday, April 19, 2003, Greene Memorial United Methodist Church.
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