Laura Knackstedt

Aug 22, 1926 -

Jun 25, 2022

Laura Blanche Knackstedt of Kenai, Alaska, passed away at 1 a.m., on Saturday, June 25, 2022. She was 95.

Laura's a celebration of life service will be held at 2 p.m. on Saturday, July 9, 2022, at the Kenai Senior Center, 361 Senior Court in Kenai. James Walsh of the Kasilof Community Church will officiate. All are welcome to attend. There will be snacks and fellowship at the Senior Center after the service.

Laura Blanche Jolin (Knackstedt) was born, one of the eldest of 10 children, on Aug. 22, 1926, in St. Luc, Quebec, Canada. Her father, a fur trapper, was killed up river when she was young, and after her mother remarried the family moved west to British Columbia. It was there she married Ernie W. Knackstedt on March 30, 1945. In 1952, they moved north, with their 4-year-old daughter, Sharon, to Alaska and settled on the lower Kenai River, next to what is now Cunningham Park on Beaver Loop Road. She lived there on the Kenai for the next 70 years, raising three children: Sharon Knackstedt, Darrell Reed Knackstedt and William "Willy" Knackstedt.

Laura was a loving wife, mother, friend and citizen of the community that she helped to build. She worked at Kenai Packers for many years, moving on to Alaska Commercial Co. in the late '60s. She was active in the Kenai Elks Lodge, the Kenai Senior Center and was a member of the Pioneers of Alaska. She loved gardening, sewing, knitting, fishing, hanging out by the river, meeting with friends to socialize and also being alone.

Laura, having attended a Billy Gram revival in Anchorage, Alaska, in the 1970s, came to know Jesus Christ as her savior from whom she inherited eternal life! She attended Kenai Bible Chapel, and later Peninsula Bible Fellowship. Now we can rest assured that we will be together with her in Heaven!

Laura was preceded in death by her husband of 76 years, Ernie W. Knackstedt; her only daughter, Sharon G. Knackstedt; sisters, Jane Braden of Tillamook, Ore., and Bertha Martin of B.C.; and brothers, Rowland and Raymond Jolin, both of Canada.

Laura is survived by her loving family: children, Darrell Reed Knackstedt with wife Brenda (Zubeck) Knackstedt and her son William Knackstedt, all of Kenai; sisters, Marie McGhie of Nanalimo, B.C., and Jean McGarrigle of B.C., and Florence Hawks of Oregon; and brothers, Georgie Theriault of Alberta, Canada, and Joe Theriault of B.C.

Laura is deeply missed.