Thomas O. Knight

Thomas Oty Knight was born Saturday, February 24, 1923, to Samuel Henry and Virgie Ellen Knight. Named after his grandfathers, William Thomas Mitchell and John Oty Knight, he grew up with his sisters Euela Oleta Knight, Lillius Lucille Knight Ware, and his brother Dalton Lee Knight.

A member of Future Farmers of America, he met his future wife, Norma Ilene Wilkins Knight, when the Wilkins family moved to Fisher County, Texas. Tom and Ilene married in May 1941 after graduating from Roby High School. Tom was drafted into the Army Air Corps in January 1943 and served his country honorably in the South Pacific during World War II. He returned home to meet Carolyn, his daughter born while he was away at war; five years later, Tom and Ilene welcomed their son Tommy into the family.

Tom went to work for Southwestern Bell after returning from the war, beginning as a line repairman and working his way into middle management. Tom and Ilene lived in many Texas communities including Abilene, Dallas, Midland, Monahans, and Grand Prairie, as well as St. Louis, Missouri, moving wherever Tom’s work took them. When he retired in 1977, Tom was in charge of handling military telecommunications.

After retiring from Southwestern Bell/AT&T, Tom and Ilene moved to El Paso, Texas, to be nearer their daughter and her family. An active member of the Church of Christ throughout his life, Tom led singing for many congregations and served as the Minister of Education at the Eastwood Church of Christ in El Paso and as an elder in several congregations in Texas and Missouri. When Carolyn and Bob retired and moved to New Braunfels, Tom and Ilene moved as well, where they joined the New Braunfels Church of Christ.

Tom passed from this life on Sunday, December 23, 2012, at AlzCare in New Braunfels. He is preceded in death by his beloved wife Ilene Wilkins Knight, his son Tommy Knight, his father and mother Henry and Virgie Knight, his sisters Oleta Knight and Lucille Ware, his brother-in-law John Ware, and his brother D.L. Knight. He is survived by his devoted daughter Carolyn Knight Pitts and her husband Bob of New Braunfels, his granddaughter Rebecca Pitts of San Antonio, his grandson Ryan Pitts, his granddaughter-in-law Teresa Pitts, his great-grandson Micah Pitts of Waxahachie, and his sisters-in law Nadine Taylor Youngblood of Clyde, Irene Allen Knight of Rotan, June Hill Spendley of Brady, and Marilynn Scoggins Wilkins of Converse, and by numerous nieces and nephews.

Thank you to AlzCare and Hope Hospice for their care and assistance in the last years of Tom’s life. He will be greatly missed.

Visitation will be held at on Thursday, December 27, 2012, at 1:00 p.m. at the New Braunfels Church of Christ in New Braunfels, Texas; funeral services will follow at 2:00 p.m. Tom will be laid to rest beside his wife and son on Friday, December 28, 2012, at 1:30 p.m. at Elmwood Memorial Park in Abilene, Texas.