Mrs. Iona Jeanne Knapp

Iona was born to the late Sanford George & Olabelle Eva Willcox, née Whittaker, on May 6, 1946 in East Orange, NJ. She attended Eastside High School, Paterson, NJ, and graduated in 1964. She then chose from being either a secretary, teacher, or a nurse, to attend nursing school at East Orange General School of Nursing, East Orange, NJ, and graduated as an RN in 1967. Later she met the love of her life, Robert “Bob” James Knapp at a wedding in western NY. They later went on to get married on April 6, 1968 in Paterson, NJ. They moved to Wappingers Falls, NY after Bob took a job with IBM and Iona then began her motherhood journey with their first child, Sharon Marie in 1969. She then decided to be a stay-at-home Mom and in 1972, the family expanded with welcoming their second daughter, Deborah Lynn.

The family went on many camping trips, enjoyed time with beloved friends, Joan & Joe Carrara and other family members. Later in 1976, IBM relocated the family to Vermont. Bob then took on the task of teaching Iona (with a wine husk of her favorite wine) and the girls how to ski. Many weekends were spent at the ski slopes during the winter with their dear friends, the Gobel’s, and enjoying time on Lake Champlain or the town pond during the summers. Iona started to explore sewing anything from quilts, clothing for her daughters, to a clothing line with her friend that they were selling, and eventually opened a store with a good friend selling fabric, notions, patterns, etc.

In 1985, IBM relocated the family, again, to Virginia, where they settled down in the state. At this time, Iona returned to work now that her daughters were in their early teens. She decided to refresh her RN and attended classes at George Mason University and got recertified to work as an RN in Virginia - during this time her daughters were her “pin cushions” as she learned how to draw blood, it was very traumatizing for her girls. She did home health nursing, visiting, and caring for patients in and around the town they lived. She then went on to work at NCAS, an insurance company, with her medical background reviewing medical claims cases.

After Bob retired in 1993, they moved to the country where they enjoyed a lake, boating, golfing, friends, etc and she took another job as a home health aide and then onto QualChoice insurance company. She later accepted a job at Anthem BlueCross BlueShield and moved up into a management position over a claims department. Bob & Iona started traveling the world – they went to Germany, Hawaii, a few cruises along with various places in the United States. Iona also took a trip with her Mom to Ireland to assist her with genealogy research.

In 2009, Iona retired from Anthem BlueCross BlueShield to take care of her ailing husband until he passed in 2010. At this point, Iona was on a mission to travel to Alaska and took a couple weeks to explore the various sites. Once she was diagnosed with Mild Cognitive Impairment shortly after Bob passed away, and her Alaska trip, she still wanted to take trips but with her daughters to help keep the confusion at bay. She got to see The Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Thanksgiving Macy’s Day parade, the Rockettes, Scotland, England, Wales, Mt. Rushmore, Badlands, and many other places. No grass grew under her feet.

Through her early memory loss struggles, Iona constantly worked hard to stay as independent as possible. She was very open and honest about her changes and participated in an article in 2012 about living with Dementia via NBC News: 1 in 7 with Alzheimer's or other dementia lives alone, report finds (nbcnews.com). She also joined the choir at Aldersgate United Methodist Church along with her late friend, Joan Carrara. She was an active member at the church in a few other groups as well. She also volunteered at the Hospice of The Piedmont in their office until it became a little too difficult to handle the tasks. Eventually it became unsafe for her to live alone and she had expressed her desire to live in Assisted Living facility and moved into The Culpeper (Memory Care Unit) in January of 2020. Due to her RN (caring for others) and her managerial experiences, she took the lead to care for others around her in the Memory Care wing, even down to looking at her watch to count their pulse to make sure they were ok. In April of 2022, she suffered a stroke that started the decline of her physical function.

She loved to listen, sing and dance along to various music from different genres and decades. She also enjoyed a nice glass of wine every evening or with friends. Many will always remember her as a spirited, energetic, and special soul.

She is survived by her daughters, Sharon (Bernie) Mullen, Deborah (Benjamin); and 4 grandchildren – Tyler, Joshua, Samantha and Rodger, all of Virginia, many cousins, extended family and dear friends across the United States.

Iona’s family would like to invite all who loved her to join in a Celebration of her Life. Visitation will be on Saturday, November 26, 2022 at 1pm, and the Memorial Services start at 2pm at Mullins & Thompson Funeral Home, 186 Shelton Shop Road, Stafford, VA 22556. Iona’s wishes were that her daughters privately spread her ashes in Vermont, near her husband, at a later time.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in Iona’s name to either: Alzheimer’s Association - National Capital Area Chapter (alz.org) or Hospice of The Piedmont - Donate Now - Hospice of the Piedmont (hopva.org).