Maurice Patrick McKnight
1918 - 2008

Published in the Ventura County Star from 9/12/2008 - 9/15/2008

Maurice Patrick "Mickey" McKnight, Commander, Supply Corps, U.S. Navy (Retired), passed away peacefully, from cancer, at his home in Ventura, on September 6, 2008.

He is survived by his beloved wife of sixty years, Lucy; two daughters, Kathleen A. McKnight of Sacramento, Calif., and Maureen H. McKnight, Maureen's two daughters, Kellen Clare McKnight-Slottee and Mairin Rose McKnight-Slottee, all of Tigard, Oregon. Numerous nieces, nephews and cousins also survive him.

Born in Kansas City, Mo., in 1918, he was the only son of Maurice Michael McKnight and Helen Clark McKnight, who, together with their extended families, were long-time residents of Kansas City, Kans.

Coming to California in the early 1920s, he was raised in the southwest section of Los Angeles, Hyde Park. He attended Loyola High School and graduated from Loyola University in 1939.

Active in sports growing up in his youth, he frequented the Harvard playground in southwest Los Angeles, where he formed many friendships, which lasted for years. Sports participation at Loyola High and University led him to play professional baseball before joining the Navy in 1942 in World War II, where he served at sea in the New Guinea Campaign.

He was awarded the American Defense medal and the Asiatic-Pacific medal. Staying in the Navy after the war, he met Lucy Carnegie at the Navy Finance Office in Cleveland, Ohio. They were married in Corry, Pa., in 1948, beginning their Navy life in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and continuing through many duty stations throughout the world: Japan, San Francisco, Hawaii, Long Beach, and Washington, D.C. During this time, he was also at sea serving as supply officer of the USS Castor (AKS-1) in the Western Pacific.

Retiring from the Navy in 1964, he was employed with the County of Ventura, retiring in 1978.

A private funeral Mass, presided over by Father Daniel A. O'Sullivan, Pastor of Sacred Heart Church, Ventura, was held at Holy Cross Cemetery Mausoleum in Culver City, Calif., and interment at Holy Cross Mausoleum on Sept. 11, 2008.

Entrusted to the family-owned Joseph Reardon Funeral Home, 757 E. Main St., Ventura, Calif.; 805-643-8623.