Donald Melvin Knudsen

On December 31, 2015 at about 10:30 pm, Donald Melvin Knudsen rejoined his wife the same year she died. He was born May 21, 1935, in Idaho Falls, Bonneville County, Idaho, to Ernest Knudsen and Elsie Amelia Seyfert, was 80 years old, and had survived every member of his original nuclear family. He was living in Puyallup, Pierce County, in Washington State when he died. Don married Sharon Renae Jones on November 9th, 1957, and still loved her the day he died of a broken heart. The funeral service will be held at the LDS Parkland Ward building at 11212 17th Ave E, Tacoma, WA with the viewing at 10:00 AM and the funeral at 11:00 AM on Monday, 1/11/2016. He was the fifth child of six. Don was the loving patriarch of five children Michelle Dawn Knudsen Powell, John Lynden Knudsen, Teresa Lyn Knudsen MacDonald (Gordon), Denise Leanne Knudsen Bakker and Tamera Dee Knudsen Stuart (Darren) along with 21 grandchildren and 16 great grandchildren. Don served in the LDS Parkland Ward as a Bishop, teacher and friend, in the Puyallup Stake as a Stake High Councilor, and in the community of Parkland as a father. He served the later years of his life in the LDS Temple in Bellevue, WA with his wife. He sang bass in the church choir, and was always available for service projects, both those the church sponsored and those he knew of from outside the church. He was not just a good member of his church; he was a kind, devoted and hardworking member of his community. His entire family believes the measure of a man is not the size of his bank account, but the size of his heart. Don had the biggest heart we have ever known, and we all consider him to have been a great man. Don served in the military at Fort Lewis in Tacoma Washington, and moved back to Idaho Falls after his two year hitch was over. He worked hard all his life, and has been a travelling factory representative for Cole National Corporation most of his life. He was so good at his job that he would frequently be transferred to other territories to either train new reps, or fix the problems caused by ineffective employees. His job brought him to Tacoma in 1973. He also spent several years as a manager of other reps. He started college, training to be an architect but when his mother died he and his brothers decided they could only put one through college, and they all decided it should be his younger brother, John, so he quit college and went right to work. He worked so hard he had little time for hobbies, but enjoyed tinkering in his garage. He could work with wood, metals and anything else you put in his hands. He had a great sense of humor and was well liked by any who met him. He will be missed.