Mrs. Beverly Oscar Ann Mahret Knight

Beverly Ann Knight was born in San Francisco on All Saints Day, November 01, 1932 as Beverly Ann Mahret. She had one sibling, an older sister, Lucille who proceeded her in death. Her parents were Charles & Margurite Mahret. As a child she enjoyed going fishing with her father throughout the SanFrancisco Ocean front. After a long day of fishing with her father, being very fair skinned, mostly of Irish decent, she told stories of coming home with bad sun burns She enjoyed playing basketball, rollerskating with her friends, and Jaxs. As a very young child she was known as “Oscar” to her family and friends. On the first day of school when the teacher took attendance, the teacher thought Beverly was hard of hearing, “Oscar” didn't know her name was really Beverly. After her parents divorced she lived with her mother, she would keep house and have dinner waiting, when her “Ma Ma” came home from work. Beverly was a modern day Saint Francis, animals would follower her home and adopt her. This continued throughout her life. She owned a variety of animals, dogs, cats, fish, a wild mouse called Zorro who she and her husband Dick adopted and domesticated at their first residence, hand feeding him bits of crackers and other snacks. rabbits, goats, ducks, parakeets, a crow, a goose, parrots, cock a teals, and chickens. her favorite dogs were Rags, Jessibelle, Daisy Mae, Alfie, and Charlie. She litter box trained her rabbits, later in life she enjoyed being able to sit at her kitchen window and watch her favorite Farrel rabbit Snoopy. Beverly was quite a character, training her parrots to “Poop-Poop” into the kitchen sink on command. She called Molly, a parrot, her Dental Hygienist because Molly liked to pick at Bev's teeth. Egor, her first parrot, would sleep with her under the blankets, and often would sit on her head and swish his tail feathers across her forehead. He would crawl down her blouses and snuggle up to take a nap. Her children remember her with lots of holes in her clothes and bird droppings down her back, which they were embarrassed by, but she thought of it as a normal part of being a parrot's mom.She was a girl scout member of troop #20 in San Francisco, and later a girl scout leader for her daughter Kimberly's troop here in Novato. She encouraged her other ddaughters Kathleen and Karen to also be girl scouts. At fifteen and in love, she and her first husband, Max Kuzman, ran away together and married in Reno. They were too young to drive so they took the Grey Hound bus. Upon return from Reno, they went home to their respective homes, keeping their marriage a secret, until the certificate was delivered by mail and her Ma Ma found out. She then moved in with her husbands family. She became friends with her sister in law, Annie. Later in life reconnecting with Annie was a joy for her.Beverly's first job was an usherette at a movie theater in San Francisco. She also worked for the telephone company. She met her second husband, Richard when she became the Girl next Door. Shortly after moving into her new home, she noticed a young man gazing in her direction, he was filthy, later finding out he was just returning from hunting. Under her breath she said to herself, “yeah keep looking, that's all your ever going to get. They later officially met when she and a girlfriend were going to the Veteran's Day parade in down town SF, waiting at the bus stop, Dick drove up in his black convertible with leopard skin seats and asked if he could drop them somewhere. A few years later they were married at the Presido. After becoming the wife of Richard Knight her full time job was as a wife and mother. She was a mother to five children, Max, Kathleen, Richard, Karen and Kimberly. Beverly was raised as a Catholic, however she had her children baptized into her husbands religion as Lutherans. Although she did not belong or attend a church regularly, she had a strong faith and encouraged her children to follow their own hearts in choosing own faith to follow.She helped her husband's family in their furniture business and later when Dick became a Realtor was a a jack of all trades, helping answer phones, making appointments, showing property, and even cleaning clients homes getting them ready for the sale. She often would trade her services to Dick's clients for a piece of furniture, one of their throw aways, restore it and return it to it's original beauty creating quite a showcase of a home for her family. She would sew clothing for her daughter Kathleen. One of Kathleen's favorite dresses as a child was a brown dress with a fur collar that was created from left over upholstery fabric from one of Beverly's projects.Beverly loved to entertain. She would have lavish party's for her husband's clients, preparing the food herself and teaching her children, boys included how to cook great meals for their guests. She loved to swim. She taught all of her children and many of her grandchildren how to swim. Some of the favorite memories of Bev's children are the days in the sun swimming and picnicking on the food they would all prepare together the night before, fried chicken, potato and macaroni salads, her secret recipe for apple beans, and a watermelon. Her home was a gathering place not only for Dick's clients, but for the many friends of her children. She played many games of cards into the late hours of night. She loved to dance and encouraged her children to do so also. She encouraged her children to be well rounded in the arts, and sports. Education was a top priority for Beverly, going back to school as an adult getting her high school diploma and on to college. She encouraged her children to also go to college. She finally learned how to drive in her 30's and made sure all of her children had driver's licenses so that they would be independent. In 1972 the family relocated to Novato, and has lived in the same house ever since. Beverly became involved with the cb craze of the seventies, receiving bucket mouth awards quite often. As the children got older she went back to work, wanting her own “mad money” She worked for Montgomery Wards until they closed their doors. She then met the Mendozas' and became very attached to all three of the boys, especially Peter whom she was very fond of. Hunting was a very big part of the Knight family life and one Beverly's favorite stories was when Dick had shot a deer and had straddled it to finish the job the deer got up with him on its back and started to run off. Another time while at the deer club everyone but Beverly had gotten up early and off to hunt. Beverly was on a walk by herself, when suddenly up ahead out stepped a very large wild boar. She turned around and started walking back to the camp. Looking over her shoulder the boar was following her, she increased her speed and so did the boar. As she arrived back at camp, she went right in to their trailer and looked out the window, the boar was at her door. Later when the hunters came back from an unsuccessful hunt, Beverly joked that they should stay at camp and she'd go out and bring back the deers and boars to them. Beverly enjoyed the Russian River area and for many years owned a cabin where the family would spend their summers. Crawdad fishing, catfish fishing and Mama Fiori's Italian Restaurant are just a few of the family activities we had there. Kathleen remembers a time when she and mom where just being silly sitting on the river beach putting rocks in their mouths like fangs. Beverly enjoyed family canoe trips up and down the river. Beverly and her husband Dick were able to travel to Hawaii, Mexico, Canada, Hong Kong, and her favorite trip was to Italy. After her husbands sudden death in 1986, she continued to manage real estate properties and support herself, continuing her independent nature. Beverly enjoyed going to movies and having a meal out with her family and friends. Her favorite meal recently has been Cesar salad, fried calamari, and sourdough french bread. Being confined to a wheel chair slowed her down quite a bit this last year, but she still found joy in watching the children walking to and from the school in her neighborhood, watching dvd movies, she enjoyed watching the birds feast off the many bird feeders put up by her kids. Saturday mornings you would always find her tired from watching fright night at the movies too late the night before. She was always appreciative of many phone calls keeping her up to date on her twelve grandchildren and her seven great grandchildren lives. Beverly was excited to know that number eight Kaitlyn Rose is on her way.Beverly touched many people in her lifetime and she will be missed by those she loved.