Patricia Knecht

Patricia Kathryn Knecht of Thornton, Colorado, born to Edward and Kathryn O’Donnell, passed away at age 98 on July 10, 2022 of natural causes after a long and full life.  She was preceded in death by her husband Louis Knecht, grandson John Rigdon, sister Mary Wenstrand and niece Ann Gellatly.  She is survived by her daughters Diane (Eric) Holgerson, Gail Ellett, Susan Knecht, and Kathryn (Stephen) Swalm, by her grandchildren Karen (Nehemiah) Alley, Katie, David and Jenny Swalm, great grandson Cayden Alley, and her niece Jane Wenstrand (Tor Nausthag).

Pat was born on April 12, 1924 in Lincoln, Nebraska.  After the Great Depression began in 1929, her family moved to a small farm in Davey, Nebraska to live with extended family. Later they returned to Lincoln and Pat attended Lincoln High School and the University of Nebraska where she majored in journalism.  She married Louis Knecht in Lincoln on December 26, 1946.  They moved to Philadelphia PA and started their family, moving to Golden, Colorado in 1952.  She worked for many years at Band-It Co. in the international sales office which she quite enjoyed.

Pat had many interests and hobbies throughout her life. She and Lou enjoyed a good bridge game.  They were accomplished photographers and developed their own black and white photos in a makeshift darkroom in our basement.  Pat was an excellent seamstress and sewed a lot of our clothing during our childhood. She began researching our family tree long before online ancestry services became popular and continued to gather the family information over the years.  She loved the challenge of the New York Times crossword puzzles.

She liked gadgets, such as transistor radios, small cameras, and hand held calculators, so when home computers came on the market in the 1980s, she was fascinated. Her first purchase was a tiny Texas Instruments device, followed by a Commodore, and then a primitive IBM. Eventually she switched to Microsoft Windows products and never looked back. She frequently upgraded to new faster computers and kept up with the latest technology. Then she would tell us the specifications of her latest computers in great detail until our eyes glazed over.

She loved traveling, and as her kids got older, she took numerous trips around the US, Europe, Mexico, Central America and Hawaii. She eventually took up stamp collecting to commemorate her trips.

Pat was inquisitive, interested in almost everything, with a great sense of humor and a quick wit. She was much loved by her family and friends, and will be forever missed by all who knew her.

May you rest in peace, Dear Mom.

If you would like to make a donation in Pat's memory, please consider donating to Colorado Reading Partners at https://readingpartners.org/donate/.