Mary Katherine “Kate” Knighton

Knighton, Mary Katherine “Kate”, 91, died Monday, April 25, 2011. Private family services will be held. A celebration of life for friends and family will be at 11:30 a.m., on Friday, April 29 at Wichita Country Club, 8501 E. 13th. Preceded in death by her mother, Lillie Mae Stockard, father, Joseph H. Stockard, her sisters, Anne Rothman (Greeley, CO) and Martha Brown (Bartlesville, OK), her brothers, Brodie Stockard (Bartlesville, OK) Tyree Stockard (Trenton, TN) and her beloved husband, Earl M. Knighton, Sr. She is survived by sons, Earl M. Knighton, Jr. (Jean), Philip M. Knighton (Chris) and Robert L. Knighton (Mary), 10 grandchildren and 20 great-grandchildren. Known to her friends as “Kate”, she was born in Trenton, TN. During the depression she and her two sisters delivered milk produced on the farm. Those were hard times, and her father took a job inspecting peaches in Florida while her family stayed in Tennessee. When a letter from a friend inquiring whether her mother would bring her daughters and son to Bartlesville, OK to run a hotel restaurant, her mother packed up the kids, sold off their few possessions and bought train tickets to Oklahoma. They arrived even before the letter accepting the offer. There, while waiting tables, Kate met and fell in love with a dashing young geologist-landman, Earl. They married and in 1939, Earl Jr. was born. World War II intervened with the career working for I.T.I.O. (Indian Territory Illuminating Oil Company-later renamed Cities Service). After the war, Cities Service transferred them to Wichita, KS. Earl left Cities Service in the early 1950s and went independent as a petroleum landman and geologist. Through WWII and the ups and downs of the Kansas oil business, two more boys were born. Kate complained that even her parakeet and dogs were boys. She was a perfect mom. Packing lunches for school and summer jobs, tending to the four boys needsincluding she said, Earl, Sr. as one of the boys. She enjoyed tennis and gardening. Many friends were made with both activities. Her garden grew to two acres eventually requiring a vegetable stand at Carl Bells grocery store, called “Kates Corner” to handle the surplus. People stood in line each Monday when she brought in a station wagon load of vine fresh tomatoes, cucumbers and other vegetables for sale. Her veggies typically sold out in one day. She was a master at ladies doubles in tennis. And, as a team with Earl, Sr., they were deadly at placing the ball. One friend made a joke that she was “Mean Kate” for returning the ball “where I aint.” This joke stuck; friends and family still laugh at it. On the courts she was proud of that nickname. In lieu of flowers, a memorial has been established with the Wichita Childrens Home, 810 N. Holyoke, Wichita, KS, 67208. Downing Lahey Mortuary East