On Saturday March 21st, family and friends celebrated the life of Stewart “Stubby” Knights, a man who will be fondly remembered by many and for many reasons. Stubby loved life…he had fun wherever he went. One time at the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto he got a horse into the hotel elevator and took it up a few flights but when it was time to bring the horse back down it refused to get into the elevator or go down the stairs…I’m not sure how that story ended, but I’m sure he probably got into a little bit of trouble! He loved sports, coaching baseball for kids and playing on different hockey teams. Stubby loved his family, his friends and his community. He and his dad owned the Blenheim Abattoir and Meat Market in Blenheim.
The Knights family have been huge supporters of our communities, sometimes making sure that folks short on cash would still have food and also providing food at no cost or reduced cost for charity functions…Stubby even made himself available cook for charity functions. Nobody will ever know just how much they have given over the years and I doubt that he kept track of it even himself…he just continued to give.
It was awesome to see the hundreds of people who came to the Blenheim Arena to pay tribute to this man…the businessman, the son, the uncle, the friend and most importantly the father. It was truly a fitting ceremony; an urn placed at center ice while the fans sat in the bleachers.
I want to personally thank everyone who had a part in Stubby’s service…our staff who made everything happen just the way it should, to Pastor Tim Joyce who did an amazing job as usual, to the folks who gave up their ice time or rescheduled so that the service could take place and most of all to Chris Kirkwood and the staff of the Arena who absolutely went above and beyond to accommodate Stubby’s family, his friends and us with everything that needed to happen in order to make Stubby’s celebration of life exactly what it should have been!
