Carleton Edward Knechtel

Carl was born on September 4, 1939, in Fortaleza, Brazil, to missionary parents, Reverend Edward Knechtel of Toronto, Canada, and Dorothy Rassmussen Knechtel of Jamestown, New York. Uniquely, Carl held triple citizenship at birth by virtue of being born in Brazil to a Canadian father and American mother. Though most of Carl’s early childhood was spent with his family in Ceara, Brazil, he spent three years living at Gowans Home for Missionary Children in Collingwood, Ontario, Canada, due to his mother needing long-term bed rest for pulmonary tuberculosis. Carl was fluent in Brazilian Portuguese when he left Brazil at age 12 to live in the United States. During his only return visit to Brazil at age 75, he was delighted to find he could still follow most conversations and learn that his native accent was still apparent.

During his teen years, Carl attended boarding school at Bob Jones Academy in Greenville, SC, graduating in 1956 before completing two years of mechanical engineering studies at LeTourneau Tech in Longview, TX, in 1958. Carl established a tireless work ethic during these years that would serve him well throughout his life. Before turning 20 he had already held part-time jobs as a waiter in his boarding school cafeteria, paper boy, grocery bag boy, encyclopedia salesman, Planter’s Peanuts sales clerk, handyman, and riveter and spent a summer working full-time as a laborer on a wheat farm in Oklahoma (work he loved and spoke fondly of throughout his life).

Wishing to rejoin family in Tennessee, Carl then worked full-time as an apprentice and journeyman meat cutter for the Kroger Company in Chattanooga while attending the University of Chattanooga, graduating in 1963 with a B.S. in Industrial Engineering. Following college graduation, he became a Kroger store manager and managed stores in the Chattanooga and Atlanta areas through 1968. Married to Sharon with two children by this time, Carl then entered law school at the University of Tennessee College of Law in Knoxville while also working for Kroger as a meat cutter. He received his Doctor of Jurisprudence in 1971, graduating in the top 20 percent of his class. Carl was admitted to the Tennessee Bar in 1971 and the Texas Bar in 1997. He was admitted to practice before the United States Tax Court in 1972.

After graduating law school, Carl embarked on a long and honorable career in federal government service, working for more than 31 years as an attorney in the Office of Chief Counsel, IRS, Criminal Tax Division, initially in Chicago for 15 years (ending in the position of Deputy Regional Counsel, Midwest Region, Chicago) and then in Dallas for 16 additional years (retiring from the position of Area Counsel, Midstates Region, Dallas). Following his retirement from public service in 2003, Carl practiced law in the Dallas area on a limited basis and served as an expert witness in criminal tax trials.

Carl met the love of his life, Sharon Callaway, at an evening church service in Chattanooga on Easter Sunday 1961, thanks to his younger brother Nathan who attended Ben Lippen School with Sharon in Asheville, NC, and who put Carl on notice that two beautiful sisters (also missionary kids), would be in attendance. Carl and Nathan took the sisters out for milkshakes after church, but it wasn’t until Carl received a thank you note from Sharon in the mail that their long-distance courtship began. Sharon returned frequently to the Lookout Mountain home of a dear mutual friend of both Carl’s and Sharon’s parents for the chance to visit Carl, and Carl drove to Asheville as many weekends as he could to spend just a few hours with Sharon on Sundays, his one day off work.

Carl and Sharon married on August 6, 1962, in Chatham, NJ, and started their family together in Chattanooga. They welcomed daughter Carolyn in 1963 and son Paul in 1966. In 1969 the family moved to Knoxville where Carl attended law school, and following his graduation in 1971, the family relocated to the south suburbs of Chicago, IL (first in Park Forest South before settling in Glenwood), where they lived until 1987, welcoming daughters Susan in 1972 and Kathryn in 1974. Carl and Sharon made many lifelong friends during these years in Chicago, most notably forming a regular Rook card game group with three other couples from church in Park Forest South that travelled across the country for decades to reunite with each other for “Rook reunions.” In 1987, Carl and Sharon relocated permanently to northeast Dallas where their two youngest daughters attended school in Richardson.

Carl had a mechanical mind and incredible energy that he applied toward hobbies and interests throughout his life. At a very young age in Brazil, he discovered a love for building and repairing toys and bikes that grew to include cars and boats as he got older. His mother always said he could build better model airplanes with scraps of wood than others could with expensive store-bought kits. Carl was a tinkerer and problem solver who could fix just about anything. With meticulous craftsmanship, he spent countless hours remodeling every home he ever owned and for 36 years made annual road trips to Tennessee to maintain and improve the home he provided for his parents after their retirement to the United States. He even bought a rotted out wooden sailboat and over the course of a long Chicago winter, slowly rebuilt every inch of it, fiberglass decking and all, in his garage.

In his free time, Carl loved boating, golfing, motorcycle rides, ping pong, chess, road trips to visit family and friends all across the country, listening to classic country music, and for many years, relaxing with family at he and Sharon’s lakeside condo in Hot Springs, AR. In his 60s he was introduced to cycling by a neighbor and together they completed a 75-mile road race. Later in his retirement, Carl especially enjoyed playing nightly games of gin with his son Paul, playing early morning rounds of golf with his IRS buddies, and attending his four grandkids’ many sporting events and theater and music performances.

Carl will be warmly remembered by family, friends, and neighbors as a man who faithfully used his gifts and talents to meet the practical needs of others without hesitation. Never one to shy away from a good debate, he was a formidable negotiator with a knack for getting a good deal and relished helping family and friends buy and sell dozens of cars, and even taught them how to drive a stick shift if needed. He readily loaned his own cars and boats to family and friends and offered up the use of his lake condo to just about everyone, including a stranger he bought a bike from! He was quick to insist on helping others with practical needs like airport rides, roadside assistance, yard work, home repairs, and cross country moves and freely shared practical advice on topics in his many areas of expertise, especially taxes. Since his death, stories of his generosity have poured in to his family, many of which they had never heard.

Carl’s most steadfast act of service was undoubtedly the incredibly faithful daily care he provided to his beloved Sharon throughout her final years living with Alzheimer’s disease. His children will remember him most fondly for being a pilar of strength, stability, and enduring support for their family.

Carl is preceded in death by his beloved wife of 58 years, Sharon Elizabeth Callaway Knechtel of Dallas, TX; his parents, Reverend Edward (Ted) & Dorothy Knechtel of East Ridge, TN, sister Gladys Knechtel Brault, and brother Nathan Knechtel.

Carl is survived by his four children: Carolyn Fisher (Pat) of Dallas, TX; Paul Knechtel of Dallas, TX; Susan Stern (Todd) of Flower Mound, TX, Kathryn Dunham (Jim) of Austin, TX; and four grandchildren: Cal Dunham and Luke Dunham of Austin, TX, and Salem Stern and Karis Stern of Flower Mound, TX.

A visitation will be held on Saturday, February 14, 2026, at Chattanooga Funeral Home - North Chapel, 5401 Highway 153, Hixson, TN, from 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm with a service to celebrate Carl’s life immediately following at 2:30 pm. Internment at Hamilton Memorial Gardens will immediately follow the service. Longtime family friend Rev. Richard Kilpatrick of Memphis, TN will officiate.

Carl’s family asks that in lieu of floral gifts, donations be made in his memory to the Salvation Army or a local food bank. Those wishing to honor Carl’s life and legacy in true Carl fashion might also consider meeting a practical need of a loved one or stranger.

“Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.” 1 Peter 4:10

Arrangements are by the North Chapel of Chattanooga Funeral Home, Crematory, and Florist, 5401 Highway 153, Hixson, TN 37343.

Please share your thoughts and memories at www.chattanooganorthchapel.com