Obituary for Tressie Hankins Knabe

Life Story for Tressie Hankins Knabe

My mother was born Tressie Elizabeth Simpkins on Oct. 22, 1923 in Cucumber, West Virginia. She was one of twins; her twin sister died at birth. Her parents were Robert Craig and Ada Simpkins. She was the 2nd oldest of 5 kids: Grover, Robert Craig, Jr. (R.C.), Calvin and Harold.

My mother was all about family. She cared about her brothers.

She met and married my father, Otis Kenneth Hankins, in 1942.

She was taking care of her brothers because grandma was frail. She cared for her niece, Charlotte Simpkins like her own daughter. She and my father lived in Radford, VA when the Second World War started. My father enlisted on Pearl Harbor Day and my mother went back home to Cucumber.

Then the government called and my mother came to Baltimore to work at Glenn L. Martin. She was a Rosie the Riveter. In the winter, I happened. After I was born, my mother and father went back to Radford. Then they split up and my mother opened a restaurant in War, WV. where I went to first grade. My mother said she loved my father, the S.O.B., but she couldn’t live with him. They stayed friends.

In 1950, my mother came back to Baltimore with me to work at Martin’s. We lived in a 24 foot metal trailer at 42 Foxglove Lane in Trailer Village next to the airport.

In 1955 my mother started her own business at 948 Barron Ave in Essex. Tressie’s Day Nursery was a big deal for a woman to own her own business. All this time, we drove back to West Virginia every holiday and for every important event.

So Cucumber started to move to Essex. Granddad was never very happy, but the rest seemed to enjoy being here as a family. There were better schools and more jobs available. Everyone worked hard and my mother was always there to help—sometimes whether it was welcome or not. Miss Tressie was helping with cars, houses and money. Also, with lots of advice.

I remember Sunday evening get-togethers to watch our BIG TV set and Ed Sullivan and Bonanza.

In the middle of all this time, my mother met George Ernest Knabe. This was probably the happiest time of her life. George worshipped the ground my mother walked on. George and I didn’t always get along (I was 14 when they married). It was probably mostly my fault. We drove cross country in 1957, I think. We boated on the Bay almost every weekend. We were members of Essex Methodist Church and participated in Boy Scouts. We went to New York City and Florida. George had a big heart that stopped too soon. My mother’s heart was broken.

We bought Camp Shiloh before George left us and he loved coming to the country and running Camp Shiloh with my mother. He missed the Bay.

When Marty and I married, it opened up new happiness for my mother and George. The grandkids, Matthew and Megan, brought them even more happiness. My mother couldn’t do enough for us. Marty and I moved into Camp Shiloh and my mother made sure we had what we needed.

As the years passed, my mother lost so many family members: my father, Otis, George, her brother Grover in VA., then her brother R. C. who lived up the street and helped my mother. R.C.’s family came back into my mother’s life recently. She was so happy to help them again.

My mother looked after our Aunt Nellie Hankins, my father’s sister. Nellie was like a sister to my mother.

After my Aunt Nellie died, my mother was alone in Essex. She closed her Day Care (after 49? Years) and moved in here at Shiloh with Marty and me. It was hard for her to give up her home, friends and church of 50 years, but she wanted to be close to me and my family.

Shiloh Methodist Church welcomed her and she has lived with us for the past 13 years.

My mother was a one-of-a-kind lady. Tough and kind. Always wanted to be in your business and helpful.

I was always a mommy’s boy.