Joanne Marie Knittle

Joanne Marie (Lindstrom) Knittle passed away on January, 2nd, 2014 after a long battle with early-onset Alzheimer's disease. Today, we celebrate her life. Joanne was born on December 4th, 1945 in Kansas City, Missouri to William Robert Lindstrom and Margaret Louise (Leiphart) Lindstrom. She had one older brother, William Joseph, and one younger sister, Charlene. She found a real partner and love in her husband, Robert Charles Knittle. They were married on July 2, 1971, totaling over 42 years of marriage. Together they had four children, Suzanne Margaret (b. 1973), Stephen William (b. 1975), Kristen Mary (b. 1977) and John Robert (b. 1980). Joanne and Bobs granddaughter, Josephine Josie Marie Conley, was born on May 6, 2005 to daughter, Kristen, and Ron Conley. She is as cute as a button. The list of people and things Joanne loved is long. She had a passion for life and giving to others. She loved to create and share her creative spirit. Joanne was the one to call if you needed help with a project. A graduate of UC Davis in Interior Design, Joanne opened her own design firm, The Designery (located in Placentia on Yorba Linda Boulevard), with the help of her husband, mother and friends. She developed many wonderful friends over her many years as an interior designer. Joanne designed the interiors for all three houses she and her husband owned. She even made all of the drapes and valences; a skill learned from her mother. She helped her children decorate their rooms, made canopies, duvet covers, put up wallpaper and fun borders, coordinated every last detail. Joanne especially loved sewing and crafts. Every Christmas, she and her mother would choose a gift they wanted to recreate for their friends and family. She would pick out handmade gift ideas for each of her children to recreate for their gifts to give. The family often stayed up late working with Bob in the garage using his power tools; Joanne, painting, sewing and gluing at the craft table. If you are a friend of the Knittle family and you have a Christmas tree then its likely there is a handmade ornament from Joanne and the Knittle family on that tree. Joanne enjoyed sewing clothes for her children, especially for free dress days at their elementary school, St. Josephs. Joanne spent many hours crafting miniature doll clothes for her childrens favorite dolls"Cabbage Patch Kids"including matching school uniforms, even smaller items for their Barbie dolls. (She didnt much enjoy sewing Barbie clothes, which caused her to purse her lips, furrow her brow, and growl at her sewing machine.) She would always present the results with great pride and triumph. She made items for the St. Josephs craft fairs every year her kids attended the school, she also decorated for several school dances and fundraisers. She even made coordinating outfits for the 7th and 8th grade servers to go with the themes. Joanne was an excellent quilter. She went with her mother monthly to Quilt Guild and quilted every Wednesday with her friends. Each of her children have personalized quilts and her designs still hang in her home with Bob. Joanne loved kids. She was very involved in St. Julianas High School Youth Ministry. She and her husband brought the youth group up from just a few members to over 30 in the first year and kept the group growing and thriving. They coordinated monthly meetings, many outings and trips"most memorably to Catalina Island"and Joanne wrote the monthly High School Youth Ministry Newsletter. Joanne and Bob also started the Young Adult Group for married couples to help them wrangle the many teens they had amassed around them. Joanne started Teen Night at the local swimming club, Las Lomas Verdes. There would be volleyball and pizza every Wednesday night and the local teens could gather and hang out somewhere that was supervised but not totally uncool. It was rather interesting as a teenager to have parents that other teenagers wanted to talk to. Kids would ring the Knittles front doorbell and want to talk to Bob and Joanne. Their own children were flummoxed. Joanne loved parties. She would go all-out for birthday party decorations, come up with party themes, help her children bake special cakes, and come up with the games and activities. Joanne loved her friends. She would chat with friends for hours at a time. She and her girlfriends would play Bunco every month, which quickly turned into Craft Night due to all of the talent she and her friends possessed. Joannes daughters would sulkily go to bed if she wasnt home before bedtime because they so looked forward to hearing about the antics of the Bunco Group. Joanne loved laughing. Her laughter was so recognizable, neighbors could identify it down the street. She could really tell a joke. Anything that seemed like a trivial daily chore would become a funny story told by Joanne. She enjoyed sharing stories about growing up in New Orleans, her high school days in Fullerton, about the things she would get up to with her adored friends from college, and her Bunco ladies. Joanne loved her children and her granddaughter. Joanne loved her parents. She spoke to her mother almost daily. Her parents had a standing invitation to every Christmas, Thanksgiving, birthday, summer barbecue, and any other reason for a get-together Joanne could drum up. They also were the first to see their grandkids in their Halloween costumes before the Knittle family went to any parties or did any trick-or-treating. As a treat, grandma and grandpa often had huge candy bars waiting for them. Joanne loved her husband. If she could only have seen how Bob would care for her she would have been very impressed. Bob learned how to cook, do the shopping, and figured out the endless twists and turns of healthcare management. He cared for her in his home for as long as was possible. After Joanne could no longer live at home, and needed the help of a staff, he found the best possible place for her to live and visited her every single day. Bob couldnt take trips or go on vacation because he needed to, and wanted to, stay near his sweetheart. He would chat with her, listen to music, read books, hold her hand, stroke her face, give her a kiss and tell her that he would see her tomorrow. And he always did. Joanne loved you all. If Joanne could wish you all good bye she would want you to know how much fun she had here, how much you all meant to her and that she loved each and every one of you. Joanne leaves her husband, Robert Charles Knittle; children, Suzanne Margaret (Knittle) Carvlin and Christopher Carvlin; Stephen William Knittle; Kristen Mary (Knittle) Conley; John Robert Knittle; granddaughter Josie Marie Conley; both her parents, William R. and Margaret Lindstrom; older brother, William Joseph Lindstrom; younger sister, Charlene (Lindstrom) Alfaro, nieces, nephews, and many friends. We miss you. You certainly were loved. So very much.