Nola Alma Campbell McKnight's Obituary
Nola Alma Campbell McKnight passed away April 11, 2019 at age of 99 in Arlington, Virginia. She was born in Hickman, Kentucky on July 25, 1919, the fourth of five children of the late Henry Randolph Campbell and wife Vida Lee Shroat Campbell. Her now gone siblings were Lottie B. Campbell Moore, Robert Belmont Campbell, Hazel L. Campbell Vaught, and Rose Frances Campbell Orr.When Nola was in the fifth grade, her parents moved the family to Dyersburg, Tennessee. She attended Milligan College and Arkansas State University. Nola then moved to Memphis where she met Thomas Harrison McKnight, Jr. on a Chris-Craft runabout in the middle of the Mississippi River. She and Tom married on January 1, 1942 and were happily married for 72 years. After their wedding, Tom was called up for WWII. When Tom left as a captain with the 12th Armored Division to fight in the European Theater of Operations, Nola lived with her parents in Memphis. After Tom returned from the war, they lived in Memphis for seventy years.Nola was a president of the Jaycettes and Poplar Terrace Garden Club, an American Contract Bridge League Life Master who taught bridge until she was over 90 years of age, an integral part of the East High School Booster Club when her sons were students there, active in the Embroidery Guild of America, a Porter-Leath Home volunteer, and life-long member of the LeMaster Class of Idlewild Presbyterian Church. She was skilled at multiple sewing arts and loved to fish at Horseshoe Lake and in the Mississippi and Tennessee Rivers.Family and friends were central to her life. She leaves her two sons, Thomas Randolph McKnight and wife Judy Sullivan McKnight of Arlington, Virginia, Thomas Harrison (Lee) McKnight III of many locations; three grandsons, Sullivan Randolph McKnight (Shawna) of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, Shawn Harrison McKnight (Julie) of Crozet, Virginia, Glen Crampton McKnight (Jules) of Vallejo, California; and five great-grandchildren, Tyler, Geneva, and Rysen McKnight of Crozet, Virginia, Maylia and Taylin McKnight of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and Iona McKnight of Vallejo, California. She is also survived by many nieces and nephews whom she loved as if they were her own children. She was the matriarch of a large, loving family.In lieu of flowers, the family suggests that donations be made to Idlewild Presbyterian Church, 1750 Union Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee 38104 or a charity of the giver’s choice.The family will receive friends on Monday, April 29 from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and funeral services celebrating her life will be held at 11:30 a.m., all at Memorial Park Funeral Home. Interment will be at Memorial Park Cemetery. A reception will follow at the funeral home’s Event Center.Arrangements have been entrusted to Memorial Park Funeral Home and Cemetery, 5668 Poplar Ave., Memphis, TN 38119 (901) 767-8930. “A Fitting Farewell for Everyone”.
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