Wanda Florene (Standing) Knight, 90 of Indianola formerly of Earlham passed away at her home on Sunday, July 22, 2018. Memorial service will be held at 10:30 AM on Tuesday, July 31st at the Bear Creek Friends Meeting House, rural Earlham. Memorial contributions may be directed to the Bear Creek Friends Meeting House.
Wanda was born to Arthur and Lydia Standing on April 30, 1928 in Earlham, Iowa. She and her sister Reva, older by two years, grew up on a farm in Earlham, Iowa, where their family attended Bear Creek Meeting and was part of the Quaker (Society of Friends) community.
In high school Wanda attended Scattergood Friends School, where she met Roy Paul Knight. The two were students at William Penn College for a short time before being married on August 30, 1947, in the Bear Creek Meetinghouse. The following year their first child, Ronald Pat (1948) was born, followed by Pamela Kay (1950, married Tom Madden), Paulette Ann (1954, married Jim Green), Nicholas Scott (1961, married Carrie Harris), and Thomas Kurt (1964).
After living for some time in Indianola, the Knights moved to the century farm where Wanda had grown up in Earlham and where they grew alfalfa and raised livestock. Roy established the Knight Building Company, and Wanda helped with the business while running the household. She was active in the arts community and loved to draw, paint, sew, and sing. She was involved with the Society of Friends throughout her life, including working with the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC).
Wanda and Roy moved to the Wesley Village in Indianola in 2001. After Roy died in 2005, Wanda continued to enjoy friends and family and was an active part of the Village community.
Wanda was a loving spirit with an enormous heart. She had a wonderful sense of humor and was an inveterate jokester and prankster. She was a mother and friend to many. She was greatly loved and will be greatly missed.
Wanda is survived by her five children and their families, including fourteen grandchildren and a bevy of beautiful great-grandchildren, as well as her brother-in-law John Griffith and many other relatives and friends. She is preceded in death by her husband Roy, her sister Reva, her sister-in-law Frances Lee, her brother-in-law Laverne, and others.