AAEC - Editorial Cartoon News
| Click Here to View List of News Articles |
|
July 7, 2008
Cartoonist John James Knudsen Dies at 85
John James Knudsen was a man of many talents. An artist who won national awards for his cartooning, he also designed and built his own home and wrote a book recounting his youth in Montana and his service as a B-17 pilot in the Army Air Forces during World War II.
Mr. Knudsen was a former editorial cartoonist for the Los Angeles Tidings Catholic newspaper, The San Diego Union and Copley Newspapers. His work was nationally syndicated.
He grew up with a sense of patriotism and love of family. Although he was initially rejected by the Navy because of an enlarged heart muscle, he volunteered for the Army and became a flight instructor.
Mr. Knudsen died May 19 at his San Diego home after a struggle with bone cancer. He was 85.
His family said Mr. Knudsen's religious faith grew during his military service and remained strong throughout his life. He was a member of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem, a Catholic organization. Mr. Knudsen was an active member of St. Mary Magdalene Parish in San Diego, where he met his friend Timothy Cunningham.
Cunningham said they were part of a group with Irish roots that participated in monthly Masses held at a different parish each month. "For 25 years we prayed for peace and justice in Northern Ireland," he said.
He said the two often talked about their common backgrounds, growing up during the Depression and serving as pilots during the war.
Mr. Knudsen was born Nov. 12, 1922, in Great Falls, Mont., to John Christian Knudsen, an immigrant from Denmark, and Margaret Agnes McCarthy, an Irish immigrant. He had an older sister and a younger brother, and he grew up hunting, fishing and farming with his father and brother.
His passion for art took him to Woodbury College in Los Angeles, where he earned a bachelor's degree in commercial art in 1942. He worked nights at Lockheed Aircraft to pay for his education.
He was in the Army Air Forces from 1943 to 1946 and was on track to be a pilot on the B-29 Superfortress, the same kind of plane that dropped the world's first atomic bomb in Hiroshima. By the time Mr. Knudsen was ready, Japan had surrendered.
After the war, Mr. Knudsen started his art career in Los Angeles, where he met his future wife, Mary E. Martin, on a blind date.
"We went to a Gershwin concert at the Hollywood Bowl," she said.
They married in 1947 and raised eight children.
Mr. Knudsen, who had developed an interest in architecture, bought an acre in Whittier and designed and built a house for his family.
"He bought books and taught himself. . . . We did most of (the building) ourselves," his wife said.
The family moved to San Diego in 1971 and Mr. Knudsen worked drawing editorial cartoons for The San Diego Union until 1977. He was a member of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists since the 1960s.
A few years ago, he decided to write about growing up in Depression-era Montana, his Army enlistment and flight-training experiences. The book, "Off I Went Into the Wild Blue Yonder," was published in 2007.
Mr. Knudsen is survived by his wife, Mary; daughters, Christine Knudsen of North Hollywood, Kathleen DeSantis of Fresno, Maureen Abrignani of Carlsbad, Eileen Landrum of Miami, Pauline Mulvey of San Diego, Patricia Knudsen of La Costa and Laureen Hopke of Escondido; son, John James Knudsen Jr. of San Diego; and 12 grandchildren.
?Blanca Gonzalez, May 23, 2008