Laura Kathleen Knapp

Laura Knapp passed away on the 9th of June 2023 of pancreatic cancer, at Liebe Family Care Home in Spokane Falls, Washington. She was 89 years old.

Laura was born in Mosby MT in 1933. She was the second youngest out of eleven children of Willis Dow Bowen and Katherine Anna Kleiman. She is survived by two of her sisters, Donna Christiansen of Hinsdale, MT and Audrey Jurovich of Billings, MT. Also surviving are seven of her eight children: Brent Knapp of Mullan ID, Debbie Wolffersdorff (and husband Billy), of Portland, TN, Frances Krey of Greeley, CO, Kenneth Knapp of Deer Park, Washington, Linda Talbott (and husband David), of Sheridan, MT, Laurae Clark (and husband Steve) of Bozeman, MT and Floyd Knapp of Spokane WA, and grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She is preceded in death by her oldest son Michael of Dillon, MT, who recently passed away on May 14th of heart failure at the age of 70.

Laura grew up on a ranch and went to a country grade school where most of the other children were girls or her brothers. High School was in Jordan, MT except that, partly due to a medical concern, one year of her high school was spent in Maryland living with the family of her oldest sister Dorothy whose husband Carl Weller was a doctor.

She married Richard Knapp and the couple resided for a year or two in Billings MT and at a ranch near Billings. Laura and Richard had two children before moving from Billings, and four more were born after they moved onto the ranch on the lower Musselshell River where Laura herself had been raised.

Richard sold the ranch in 1968-69, and in subsequent years worked as a ranch hand. The family followed Richard around Western Montana, living in the areas of Livingston, Harrison, Martinsdale and Forsyth MT. Two more children were added to the family. In 1976, Richard’s father turned over his ranch near Melstone MT to Richard and his brother Roger. The family lived there until 1979 when Richard sold his share of the ranch to Roger. The family moved to Sheridan MT. In Sheridan, Laura began a career working in elder care. Until then, she had been exclusively a homemaker and mother.

In 1984, Laura and Richard separated geographically and then divorced. Laura lived for short periods at locations near Siletz OR, on a farm in Wisconsin, and near Glasgow MT. No later than April 1987, Laura became settled in Woodburn OR, where she worked in elder care with a live-in position at a care home until about 1997. She then moved to Spokane WA where she was near some of her sons and a daughter-in-law. In Spokane, she continued to work jobs in elder care until her retirement around eight years later. Within about a year after she moved to Washington, in April 1999, Laura moved into an apartment at Fahy West in Spokane.

Fahy West remained Laura’s home until 2023 when she increasingly required care due to failing health. Laura moved in late May 2023 to the Liebe Family Care Home in an attractive neighborhood in Spokane Valley WA where she was well cared for until the end.

Living in Spokane during her last decades, Laura was regularly visited by several of her sons, who sometimes took her on scenic drives into the nearby countryside, played scrabble with her, or just provided family company. She often occupied herself when she was alone in such activities as writing limericks, playing solitaire, and playing her keyboard. Laura’s many friends at Fahy West liked her and miss her. She regularly attended the Connections Church in the Hillyard area of Spokane.

There will be a family celebration of life at a later date, soon to be announced, at the Connections Church located at 2524 E Queen Ave, Spokane.