Obit: Knaack, Charles Sr. (1884 – 1966)

Contact: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Knaack, Crubel, Chris, Thorson, Welker, Mertens

---------Source: OWEN ENTERPRISE (Owen, Clark County, Wis.) 23 Jun 1966

Knaack, Charles Sr. (28 AUG 1884 – 17 JUN 1966)

Charles Knaack Sr., 81, an Owen (Clark Co., Wis.) businessman for more than 30 years until forced into retirement by illness about five years ago, died unexpectedly at his home early Friday morning.

Death was attributed to a heart attack he suffered at 7:20 a.m.

Rev. H.L. Crubel officiated at funeral services conducted at 9 o'clock Monday morning from the Holy Rosary Catholic Church. Burial was made at Abbotsford.

Serving as pallbearers were Keith Mertens, Dean Welker, Don Hammond, Donald Mills, Ray Kaufer and Adolph Klinstick.

Charles August Knaack was born Aug. 28, 1884 at Braddock, Pa. On Sept. 6, 1910, he and the former Rose Chris exchanged matrimonial vows in a ceremony performed in the Catholic church at Colby. They resided at Abbotsford for a little better than five years before moving to Owen in 1916. Here, he was first employed as a car inspector for the Soo Line railway, and after several years with that firm, established the Knaack Dray Line.

Those that knew Charles Knaack well, knew him not as a civic leader, but a generous man with a big hear who, on more than one occasion, opened his home to others so that they might have a home.

Saddened by his sudden death and mourning his loss are his wife, Rose; three sons, Charles, Owen; Rudolph, Hayward; and Donald, Milwaukee; three daughters, Mrs. Edward (Eleanora) Thorson, Minneapolis, Minn.; Mrs. Orville (Leanora) Welker, Owen, and Mrs. Eugene (Imogene) Mertens, Withee; 17 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by three brothers, two sisters and a daughter, who died in infancy.