Daisy Mae Knipstein

Daisy Mae Knipstein was kind, sweet and caring. She had quite the sense of humor and could bring a smile to your face easily. She lived a life full of fun and love and her family meant the world to her.

News of 1927 included the first transatlantic telephone call, Ford stopped production of the Model T and began selling the Model A with prices starting at $460 and Charles Lindbergh completes the first solo flight across the Atlantic. The devastating Great Mississippi Flood struck, "The Jazz Singer" opens, ending the era of silent movies, the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) was created and work began on Mount Rushmore's Sculpture of Presidents. The same year on April 12, Fredrick M. and Eda (Thieleman) Hansen welcomed a beautiful little girl into the world in Chicago, Illinois that they named Daisy Mae. She was the youngest of their four children.

Growing up in Chicago, they lived in a friendly neighborhood and always had plenty of friends to play with. Many Saturday afternoons were spent at the theater watching double features for a dime, watching musicals and dancing. In her junior year of high school, her parents moved to Whitley County, Indiana to live at Tri-Lakes north of Columbia City. Daisy made the decision to finish up her high school years in Chicago and lived with her aunt. After graduating from Parker High School, Daisy moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana. That move would eventually lead her to find the man of her dreams.

While working as a carpenter doing a project at GE, Edwin F. Knipstein, Jr. would take his lunch break and sit outside one of the buildings that Daisy was working in. She would say hi to him through the window and one day while she was at Shriner's Lake walking down to the beach, she met up with Ed. From there the rest is history. The two were married on April 24, 1948 at Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in Fort Wayne.

Within a year, the young couple moved from Fort Wayne to Shriner's Lake. Ed had purchased the former dance hall at the lake to tear it down and piece by piece, he floated the lumber across the lake to the property he was building their home on. He hand dug and poured the foundation and board by board they built their home. They spent many years building this home where they would raise their children in, Sue, Sally, Edwin Alan, and Charles. In fact, for several years they lived in the home as they were finishing it. In 1976, Daisy and Ed remodeled the home as it is today.

The family would travel often to visit Daisy's family in Chicago and they occasionally would go to Lake James and shared a cabin with Ed's youngest brother. As the children were in school, once a month she would meet with friends and play bridge. Daisy was an excellent seamstress and did upholstery work. She made many outfits and dresses, including prom dresses for her daughters as they grew up. She bowled on a few leagues over the years and when she and Ed were not bowling on the weekends, they would have card nights. Daisy also enjoyed the challenges of puzzles and crossword puzzles.

She loved her entire family and all her grandchildren brought her great joy. She always had a camera nearby, but now and then when she left it laying unattended, a few of the grandchildren would use it without her knowing at the holidays, snapping photos of grandma and others and placing the camera right back where they found it. She would not know it until she would have the film developed and what a surprise Christmas present she would receive.

Her family's lives were once again changed forever at 9:57 a.m. Tuesday, October 9, 2018 when Daisy Mae Knipstein, at 91 years old passed away at Auburn Village. She is survived by her children, Sally (Douglas) Gasaway, of Fort Wayne and Charles (Victoria) Knipstein of Auburn; daughter-in-law, Lorraine Knipstein of Lubbox, Texas; son-in-law, Steven Method, of Fort Wayne; 12 grandchildren; and 18 great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Ed Knipstein Jr. on January 19, 2016; son, Dr. Edwin Alan Knipstein on December 19, 2015; daughter, Sue Method on May 9, 2018; brother, Carl Hansen; sisters, Betty Jane Hansen and Odell Srnensky; and an infant grandson, Brian J. Knipstein.

Funeral services will be 11 a.m. Friday, October 12, 2018 at DeMoney-Grimes, a Life Story Funeral Home, 600 Countryside Drive, Columbia City with visitation beginning at 10 a.m. Chaplain John Robinette of Southern Care Hospice will be officiating. Burial will follow at St. Matthew's Cemetery where she will be laid to rest beside her husband. Memorial gifts may be given in her memory to Southern Care Hospice. Visit www.demoneygrimes.com to send her family condolences online.