Gwendolyn Duane Knowles

A celebration of Duane’s life will be held on Saturday, November 29, 2025, at 11:00 am at

Orlando Baptist Church, 500 S. Semoran Blvd, Orlando, FL 32807.

Gwendolyn Duane (Dieas) Knowles, age 88, left us to be with her Lord and Savior on November 21, 2025, after a long battle with Alzheimer's Disease.

Duane was born June 28, 1937, to O.P. “Dick” Dieas and Melba (Webb) Dieas in Deland, FL. She grew up in Deland and Tampa and graduated from Tampa Jefferson High School in 1954.

In 1956, she married James (Jim) Knowles, the love of her life, and they spent 69 wonderful years together. They raised a son, James Knowles, Jr, and a daughter, Lisa Knowles Booth,

both of Orlando.

Duane spent her entire life as a shining example of caring, compassion, and kindness to anyone who ever met her. She was totally committed to the spiritual principles of the Bible that she learned early in life. She spent many early adult years serving as a Sunday school teacher for 5th- 6th-grade girls and later in life, for senior adult ladies.

Although she had various career paths throughout her life, including bookkeeping and office management for family businesses, her primary focus was always as a wife, mother, and grandmother. She insisted on and found great joy in preparing and serving Sunday lunches for her family for over 50 years.

She is survived by her husband Jim Knowles, son Jim Knowles Jr., (Sally), daughter Lisa Booth, and four grandchildren, Vincent Knowles, Jared Booth, Daniel Knowles, and Dr. Jamie Caroline, and many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents, Melba Calvo and Dick Dieas; her stepfather, Roy Calvo; and her stepmother, Lora Dieas; and by her siblings, Leland Dieas (Jewel) and Olive Landrum (Bob).

If you would like to honor her with a donation to the Alzheimer's Association, you may do so online at https://alzfdn.org/donate/.