Memorial services for retired school bus driver Jimmy Dale Knox, 72, of Hanford were held on May 28 at People's Funeral Chapel in Hanford. He died in a Hanford hospital on May 23.
He was a driver for Kings Co. Superintendent of Schools, he previously had worked in sales for Kingsrow Ford in Hanford. He was a native of Decatur, Tenn. and moved with his parents, Jesse Evan Knox and Sara Legg Knox, in 1934 at age 2 to Exeter. They traveled west in a Model T with another family to settle near their uncle and aunt, Perry and Bonnie Knox in Tulare County.
He attended Exeter schools and graduated from Exeter Union High School in 1950, where he was active in band and athletics. He was allowed to get his driver's license at age 14 in order to help his father's newspaper distribution business in Exeter, driving nearly every weekend to deliver paper to Sequoia National Park.
After high school, Mr. Knox attended College of the Sequoias in Visalia, before enlisting in the U.S. Navy during the Korean conflict. He served his country as a hospital corpsman, being stationed for two years in San Diego and two years in Yokuska, Japan. He also served aboard the U.S.S. Constellation in the Yellow Sea offshore Korea.
After mustering out of the navy, he followed his father as a salesman in the National Biscuit Co. (later Nabisco) in Oakland and Modesto. He moved back to Visalia in 1958, where he was a salesman for Schilling/McCormick Spices, Automobile Club of Southern California, and Giant Chevrolet. In 1958, he married his wife, Sharen, and moved to Hanford. He was a member of the Hanford Elks and the Sierra View Men's Club and a former member of the Visalia Optimist Club and Visalia Elks Lodge. Jim was noted for his love of golf, bowling (he once rolled a near-perfect 289 game in Japan), early morning coffee, Rams football and his family.
He is preceded in death by his parents and one son, Kevin Wade Knox.
He is survived by his wife of 19 years; three sons, Michael Duane Knox of Visalia, Mitchell Wade Knox, Sr. of Lindsay, and Mark Allen Knox of Visalia; a step-son, Kevin Cook of Visalia; and a step-daughter, Stacey Johnson of Hanford; four grandsons, Lucas Jay Knox of Arcata, Mitchell Wade Knox, Jr., Trevor Dale Knox, and Kyle Roy Knox, all of Lindsay, and step-grandson Michael Friedborg of Sonoma; a brother, Charles Evan Knox of Visalia and a sister-in-law, Larissa V. Knox of Visalia.
Remembrances in his name may be sent to the Valley Fever Research Fund.
