Father Knight's 105th Birthday!

Father Knight at his 100th birthday!

Fr. Harold Stanley Knight, former rector of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church of Mesa, will be celebrating his 105th birthday on July 26th.  

Born in Rochester NY in 1912 into a family whose history in America dates back to the 1600s, Harold knew from a young age that he wanted to become a priest. He graduated from the University of Rochester in 1934 and from the Colgate-Rochester Divinity School three years later. He immediately went to work serving two Baptist Churches before joining the Episcopal Church.

Surrounded by religious dignitaries from New York and Rome, Fr. Knight was ordained to the priesthood of the Protestant Episcopal Church on July 5, 1948 at St. Mark’s Church in Clark Mills, New York where Mr. Knight had served as a Deacon. The Right Rev. Malcolm E. Peabody, Bishop of the Diocese of Central New York was officiant. Fr. Knight then served at the Church of Epiphany in Rochester.  

In 1957, his wife saw an ad in the paper for a rector needed in Arizona. Fr. Knight responded to the unusual request and was hired by Bishop Kinsolving, the Bishop for the Missionary District of Arizona. Fr. Knight’s 20-year tenure with St. Mark’s Mesa began at the Pepper Street Church which was built in 1909.  

At that time, Mesa had a population of 26,000 and as the town grew in the 50’s, so did the St. Mark’s congregation under Fr. Knight’s leadership and his love for God and his parishioners. Following the 1928 prayer book, his baritone voice complimented his elegant speaking skills. He led St. Mark’s Church as it developed broader ecumenical relationships with other Mesa churches, expanded its ministries and focused extensively on Christian education for the youth and young families.

​Having outgrown the Pepper Street Church, a parcel of land surrounded by fields in “east” Mesa was purchased to build a new church even though “it seemed so far away from the activity of downtown Mesa.” In 1963 St. Marks moved to its present site at 322 N. Horne St. with expanded facilities that included an existing house, barn and a new church and class room spaces.  When the present church was built in 1981 under Fr. David Pettengill’s guidance, the large room that had housed the church services became an event space/hall which has been renamed Knight Hall in Fr. Harold’s honor.

Rev. Canon Harold Knight served on the advisory board of the Salvation Army in Arizona, was the President of the Mesa Association of Churches, President of the Mesa Community Council and on the Advisory Board of United Fund. Because of his ongoing community service, Fr. Knight was named Mesa Citizen of the year in 1977-the same year that he retired.

Fr. Knight was an avid tennis player in his youth and had a hobby of conjuring and card tricks.  He started writing poetry just out of seminary and still writes and enjoys reading.  He has been married to Edithanne, a former concert pianist, for 46 years.

A sample from his collection of poems is “The River of Life” inspired by Revelations 22:1 that Fr. Knight wrote when he was a young 92 years:
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The river of life is a stream deep and broad, that rises and flows from the temple of God.
Life is the river, with life I am one, the river will flow when my own life is done.  
This much I know. I go with the flow.
I was born to the river when my mother gave birth; the flow is nature of all life on earth.
I am swept by the current, captured, not free: I belong to the waters that flow to the sea.
This much I know. I go with the flow.
Life is Gods’ spirit though humanly flawed; The River of life is the life – gift of God.
Life’s flowing river ever will be.
From the Temple of God and Gods bright crystal sea.
This much I know.  I go with the flow.

Fr. Harold Knight shares his 105th birthday with the State of Arizona. Birthday wishes can be sent to Fr. Knight in care of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 322 N. Horne St.  Mesa, AZ.  85203

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