Barbara Jean Knoblock

Barbara was born on October 31, 1947 in Cleveland, Ohio to George and Alice Helmink. The oldest of six children, she graduated from Lutheran West High School in 1965. After high school, Barbara worked at Cleveland Trust Bank and as a secretary in a law office in Terminal Tower until she was married.

Barbara married Kurt William Knoblock on November 9, 1968. They were married for over 47 years until Kurt’s death in 2016. A longtime employee of Dow Chemical, it was Kurt’s job that brought the family to Houston in 1993.

Once in Houston, Barbara became a charter member of the West Houston Quilter’s Guild. Serving in various positions, including secretary, she actively participated for many years attending numerous Bees, retreats, conventions, and workshops. Sharing her love of quilting amongst the group of women in the guild was of special importance to her.

Barbara was known for her meticulous attention to detail in her quilting, cross stitch, and sewing. This lifelong talent soon blossomed into a home-based quilting business. Barbara took great pride in turning countless quilt tops made by her customers into full-fledged, beautiful quilts using her long-arm quilting machine. She also blessed her friends, children, and grandchildren with the gift of her quilts which are treasured heirlooms to those who received them.

Barbara also attended and showed quilts at the International Quilt Festival, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, and local quilt festivals for many years where her work received recognition on multiple occasions. She was especially proud when one of her awards from the rodeo was written about in the local newspaper.

Barbara had a deep affinity for the music of Neil Diamond. In addition to numerous LPs, tapes, and CDs of his music, Barbara attended many Neil Diamond shows with her husband and later her daughter Amy over multiple decades including his 50th anniversary tour which ended up being his last public performances.

When her granddaughter Reagan was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes, Barbara became a generous financial supporter of JDRF. She lent her time and money to their OneWalk to cure Type 1 as well as becoming a multi-year named sponsor for their annual gala.

Barbara was preceded in death by her father George Helmink and her husband Kurt Knoblock.

Barbara is survived by her mother Alice Helmink, daughters Nancy Suhodolsky and Amy Josefy, grandchildren Samantha, Ricky, and William Knoblock and Reagan and Elise Josefy, great-grandchild Joshua Dickerson Jr., and siblings Shirley Rinas, Richard Helmink, Janet Lemmo, Donna Shoulders, and Jeffrey Helmink.

A celebration of life reception will be held on Thursday, April 7th from 6:00-8:00pm at Second Baptist Church- Cypress Campus, 29900 US-290 W, Cypress, TX 77433.

Memorial donations may be made in her name to JDRF (https://www.jdrf.org/southerntexas). The family would like to thank the staff at Bristol Park for their care in her final years as well as the EMTs of the Cy-Fair Fire Department and the doctors and nurses of North Cypress Medical Center ICU for their care and help.