LaVERNE ELLIS "VERN" KNOX ~ Class of 1948
February 10, 1931 - March 29, 2010





Our loving father passed away Monday, March 29, 2010 at 4:15pm at the home of his son Robert. LaVerne (Vern) suffered for many months from cancer and is now at peace in the arms of his Savior Jesus Christ.

Vern was born February 10, 1931 in Sterling, IL and lived with his family in Morrison, IL until they moved to Richland in 1944. Vern graduated from Columbia High School in 1948.

Vern was a cracker-jack mechanic in his youth and boasted of being able to pull out and replace a hot rod engine for his roadster in one afternoon with his high school friend Tom Callahan (48-RIP).

Vern attended a United Protestant church in Richland. He soon met and married his first wife Claris VanDeusen ('48). They were married at Richland in 1950. A son, Ellis (Skip) Lee Knox was born from that union. They were divorced and Vern later met his wife Lillian Faith Short, whom he married in 1954 in a private ceremony at Oklahoma City, OK. They were married 42 years.

Vern worked as a retail salesman for most of the rest of his adult life and sales was only one of his passions. He once said that he felt closer to the Lord God on a blue ribbon trout stream in the mountains of central Idaho than he ever did in a church. However, he did make a profession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ at Highlands Baptist Church in Boise, ID in 1966. He was active in the choir and sang many solos for the services there. He had a rich and talented baritone voice.

He loved the outdoors of Idaho and hunted and fished as often as he could get away from town. He was a skilled master fly rod builder and tied all of his own flies. Vern and his wife, Lillian Faith, had four sons: John Lyle, (deceased in 2008) James Alson Knox, William Miles Knox and Robert Charles Knox.

Vern is preceded in death his parents Alson LaVerne Knox and Ardetta (Given) Knox, his wife Lillian Faith (Short) Knox and his oldest son (John Lyle) by Lillian Faith.

He is survived by his four sons, Skip and his wife Debra, James and his wife Carol, William and his wife Shawna, Robert and Gina, Vern's sister Ruby and her husband Robert James and their three children. He had 11 grandchildren and several great-grandchildren.

Robert Knox and Gina Debruin cared for Dad in their home for the last several months of his life and Four Rivers Hospice helped them ease his transition to the next life with the Lord where he is at peace and pain free for eternity. The family is forever grateful for their sacrifice of love to Dad.

There was a memorial service at Treasure Valley Baptist Church in Meridian, ID on Saturday, April 3, 2010 at 10am.

Published in Idaho Statesman on March 31, 2010

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