Deceased January 19, 2023

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In Memory

Phil Knowles passed away Jan. 19, 2023, at a health care facility in Lenox, Mass., a town where he and his wife, Eileen, had lived since their wedding in 1991. Their marriage was the second for each, Phil with four grown children from his first marriage, and Eileen with four grown children from hers.

After Amherst, Phil joined the Navy for a four-year tour, starting as an ensign aboard aircraft carriers and then submarines, followed by service in the Navy Reserve for 20 years, being discharged with the rank of commander. He then worked as computer manager at the Clairol corporation, retiring in 1989.

Phil loved to sail, first as a boy with a Sunfish on the New York side of Lake Champlain, where a family cabin was located; later by purchasing a 26-foot Pearson sailboat; and, in his late 80s, by sailing as a “helper” aboard a seagoing vessel, crossing the Atlantic to Lisbon. Once in port, he climbed up rope ladders to the crow’s nest, where a gorgeous blonde waited to give him, and all others so challenged, a big kiss upon arrival. (Don’t know what else happened up there!) Eileen flew over to Lisbon but watched the crow’s nest event from ground level.

Phil organized and supervised several of our reunion Saturday night dinners in Valentine Hall. I first met Phil in the sixth grade at a private day school in Brooklyn, N.Y., which we both attended through high school graduation. Phil was a detail-oriented sort of fellow but always interested in his surroundings and creating new relationships. I suspect he’s waving to us now from a different crow’s nest!

Everett E. Clark ’51, with assistance from Eileen Knowles