I am one of seven children. Six of us are living. My youngest sister, Kaye, died of a brain tumor a few years ago. My youngest brother, Mark, and I never married but we still have twenty nieces and nephews. Several years back, my two brothers and I used to have an annual "Uncle Party" in January as a way to stay connected to that many nieces and nephews. We played games, had a delicious dinner and drew numbers for the order in selecting gifts. We three uncles would scour our homes for as many gifts and we could find, put them on a big table and let them select until they were gone. We only had one rule: no parents and no boyfriends or girls friends! It was just uncles and nieces and nephews. We stopped when their girlfriends and boy friends started crashing the party because their presence changed the climate so radically. They were not as free to talk!
For a few years, the whole family had a reunion at a park between Brandenburg and Corydon because of the size of the group and with some living in Meade County and some of us living in Jefferson County. The park was convenient because it was in between and big enough to hold the whole gang.
After our parents died, my siblings and I, along with their spouses and without their children, used to get together every second or third Saturday night before Christmas. I would celebrate a home Mass and we would enjoy a delicious dinner together. We had given up the dreaded practice of exchanging presents years ago. We decided that we would not exchange gifts, but just get together, pray for those who had gone before us and enjoy a good meal. That gathering changed a lot as we have gotten older, been through COVID and one sister and two brother-in-laws have died. Because some of us have gotten older and do not like to drive at night, we have had a lunch at my sister's house in Brandenburg the last couple of years instead of a dinner. This last year, we all attended the 4:00 pm Mass at St. John Church in Brandenburg where I was a guest presider. That way, we got to see even more relatives and get home before dark.
1. My sister, Brenda, is the oldest. I have probably spent more time with her than any of my siblings. I even lived in her basement one summer when I was in the seminary. There are two stories about her that still make me laugh. One day, I was on the phone with her talking about something when she said something like, "I thought you had to be a virgin?' Because I knew she meant "celibate," I paused a minute and replied, "Oh, I hope not!" When she didn't laugh, I had to explain the difference to her, but I knew she probably spent the whole evening wondering about me - which I intended for her to do! A few years ago, she attended a Parish Mission that I led at St. Brigid Church in Vine Grove. I was talking about family life in general, when all of a sudden I looked up deliberately from my script and said, "I have no children of my own..." and then paused a few seconds and added "...that I know of!" I could see her out of the corner of my eye squirming as she tried to process that information! I still laugh when I recall the look on her face that night!
3. I was next in line, followed by my brother Gary. Gary was an innocent victim in one of the worst spankings I ever got! Mr. Junius Greenwell lived down the road from us. He had a nice orchard close to the road. When his apples were ready to eat, some of us kids noticed. I forgot who else was with me in this event, but a couple more neighbor boys for sure. We politely asked him if we can have some of his apples. His answer was, "Sure! Take all you want!" We made the mistake of taking him literally. We rolled a big 50 gallon drum up to his tree and practically stripped it of apples, without even considering how we were going to get it home. Well, when my Dad got home, Mr. Greenwell made an angry visit telling my Dad all about our misdeed! This led to me and my brother Gary getting the worst spanking of our lives. I still remember crying, "He said we could have all we wanted!" My brother, Gary, was crying, "I wasn't part of it! I didn't do anything wrong!" My Dad was on a roll and didn't want to hear either of us! I still remember when it was over, Gary was still crying that he was not part of the apple incident. My Dad, not bothering to distinguish the bad from the good, said something like, "Well, that was for all the times you didn't get caught!"
4. My father chose my sister Lois and I to be "co-executors" of his last will and testament. My father had the practice of having multiple CDs spread over three banks to protect it from FDIC insurance limit rules. I remember going into one bank. My sister went up to one of the tellers and announced, "We are Mr. Knott's co-dependents! We are here to execute his will!" I corrected her right away. What she meant to say was "co-executors," not "co-dependents!" We laughed all the way to the (next) bank!
5. Nancy is the Mother Teresa of our family. If she can't find a tragedy in the family, she'll find one in the neighborhood. She has so much of my mother's good qualities in her that she would rather sacrifice her own happiness than disappoint anyone who needs her! My mother used to say, when we would not get twisted out of shape about a "tragedy," that "somebody around here needs to worry!" Nancy has a way of "worrying for everybody" when something bad happens in the family. For that reason, we sometimes withhold unsettling information from her so that she won't get involved. She is very caring person for sure!
6. My youngest sister is Catherine Marie. We called her "Kaye." Her husband, Richard, is the brother of Father Bob Ray." It had to be a double burden for her, her husband and her kids to have two priests in the family. That became very clear to me when one day she said jokingly, "I have a name! I'm not just Father Knott's sister!" She said that happens often when people introduce her. They will say, "This is Father Knott's sister!" She wasn't angry about it, but just a little aggravated. The fact she could tell me that says a lot about her! I appreciated having my attention drawn to something of which I was barely aware.
7. Mark is my youngest brother, born after I was in the seminary and owner of my father's building business - Knott's Supply. I knew very little about my brother until we worked together on the St. Theresa Family Life Center and Retreat House. We used to talk on the phone 3-4 times a year, now we talk 3-4 times a week! What we talk about mostly is how to better observe oneself so as to correct anything that holds us back as persons. He can be very inciteful and funny. Not too long ago, he said to me, "Everybody I run into is always telling me how much they love you. I am going to start calling you, "Father Wonderful." He calls me that at least once a week. One of favorite memories of him as a very young boy is that Christmas he knocked the wind out of my Dad lying under the Christmas. I don't know what triggered Mark, but all of a sudden he raced across the living room and jumped onto my Dad's stomach. As he landed, he yelled out, "You old fart Santa Claus!" After a moment of shock, my Dad let out a pain-filled howl and the rest of us headed for the utility room to laugh our heads off!
