Marjorie Jeanette "Jean" Knodel passed away June 18, 2007 in Lompoc. She lived in Santa Barbara County for forty years, and the past several years in Lompoc.


She met her husband Robert "Bob" Knodel in a doctor's office where she worked. Both of them freshly out of the service at the end of WWII, returned home to Portland, Oregon, where fate brought them together. They fell in love, got married and moved to Alaska in 1949. Bob was a general contractor in Anchorage, which was still in a pioneering era. Together they raised a family of six boys and one tom girl. Later the family relocated to Santa Barbara County in 1967.

Bob and Jean got into the car business, buying Phipps Motors, a British motors import dealership. It was an adventure much like Alaska in the fact that they had no idea what they were getting into. A few years later, Bob was selling real estate and Jean went back to nursing.
They retired in the late 1970's and moved to Laguna Beach. Eventually they moved back to Santa Barbara County. Bob died in 1998 and Jean carried on for eight more years.

She is survived by her seven children and her little dog Billy.