Dorothy Knight, widow of Ted Knight

[deb...@comcast.net]

(This was posted at Celebrity Obits, unfortunately, they didn't include
a link. If I find one, I'll post it)

Dorothy Knight, 82; Quiet Activist for Peace, Sustainable Agriculture

Dorothy Knight, a 33-year resident of Pacific Palisades and community
activist, passed away in her sleep on October 1. She was 82.
Born on January 18, 1923 in East Lyme, Connecticut, Knight worked for a
graphic arts firm in New York City, where she met her future husband,
actor Ted Knight. The couple were married in 1950, and moved around the
East Coast as Ted pursued his career in radio and local television.

In 1956, they moved to Los Angeles and settled in Burbank before moving
to the Palisades in 1974. Ted starred in a number of television shows
("Mary Tyler Moore Show," "Too Close for Comfort") and Dorothy served
as his financial advisor for years. Ted passed away in 1986.

Dorothy was an activist by nature, but her two big passions were
sustainable agriculture and proper nutrition for children in school.
She served on the board of the Price Pottenger Nutrition Foundation in
San Diego, a clearinghouse of information on sound nutrition,
alternative medicine, humane farming and organic gardening. She
actively campaigned for No Oil! (the successful 20-year effort to ban
drilling along PCH in Pacific Palisades), and more recently worked on
the successful campaign to ban gas-powered leafblowers in Los Angeles.
Even when she moved to Park City, Utah, for two years in the late
1990s, she was active in her neighborhood, becoming the landscape
enforcer.

"She dove into stuff that annoyed her," recalled her children.

"Dorothy was one of our community's most dedicated unrecognized
volunteers," said her close friend Joan Graves in a letter nominating
Dorothy for Citizen of the Year. "She worked diligently over the years
on such committees as the Village Green, DASH (the Highlands shuttle)
and CAPPY (Citizens Assisting Pacific Palisades Youth.) Her ability to
organize, recruit and quietly get the job done benefited every group
with whom she worked."

However, in 1993, Dorothy did come out from behind the scenes to
receive a Golden Sparkplug award from the Community Council in
recogition of work with CAPPY.

More recently, Dorothy was active in Palisadians for Peace, and could
often been seen sitting at the peace table at the Sunday farmers market
on Swarthmore, engaging visitors, both friendly and wary, in
conversations about foreign policy.

"At my age I should be thinking of rocking chairs, but every time I
hear something I get all fired up," Dorothy told an interviewer in
2003, as she urged her fellow citizens to remember the vision of the
Founding Fathers. "We've gotten too far away from the constitution. Our
country has become corporate America."

Dorothy is survived by her children Ted Knight, Jr. of Thousand Oaks,
Elyse Knight (husband Joseph Giardina) of New York and Eric Knight of
Pacific Palisades; grandchildren Paige and Tyler Knight of Thousand
Oaks and Agoura; sister Norma Bertussi and brother Arthur Clark.

A chapel and burial service will be held on Friday, October 7, at 1:30
p.m. at the Wee Kirk o' The Heather at Forest Lawn in Glendale, 1712 S.
Glendale Ave.

Friends are invited to a reception at Dorothy's home in the Highlands,
1390 Avenida de Cortez, at 4:30 p.m. Friday.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Dorothy Knight's name to
Greenpeace, 702 H Street, N. W, Suite 300, Washington, D. C. 20001 or
Palisadians for Peace, c/o Martha Dresher, 934 Las Pulgas, Pacific
Palisades, CA 90272.

[J.D. Baldwin]

In the previous article, <deb...@comcast.net> wrote:
> Dorothy Knight, 82; Quiet Activist for Peace, Sustainable Agriculture

I thought it was hilarious when she christened that new sailboat and
snapped the prow right off.
--
_+_ From the catapult of |If anyone disagrees with any statement I make, I
_|70|___:)=}- J.D. Baldwin |am quite prepared not only to retract it, but also
\ / bal...@panix.com|to deny under oath that I ever made it. -T. Lehrer
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