MCREYNOLDS-NAVE AND LARSON FUNERAL
Helen Louise Shelton Knight, 95, of Bartlett, Tennessee, died February 7, 2022. Widow of the Reverend James Wade Knight, Helen was a member of Faith Cumberland Presbyterian Church (West Tennessee Presbytery) in Bartlett. Born January 13, 1927, in Karnak, Illinois, to the Reverend Clarence Roy Shelton and Mary Seawright Shelton, a Cumberland Presbyterian family.
Helen grew up in Southern Illinois where her father was a teacher, preacher, and public school principal. She attended Bethel College in McKenzie, Tennessee, where she met James Wade Knight, a ministerial student. They married June 5, 1946, in Bethany, Illinois, and Helen became a pastor's wife following Jim from pastorate to pastorate, primarily in the Cumberland Presbyterian Denomination. She later earned a Master's Degree in Library Science from Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
One of nine children, Helen was the last of her generation. Three of the girls, including Helen, married ministers and two of the boys were ordained in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. The grandchildren of Roy and Mary also include several more Cumberland Presbyterian ministers and denominational employees. Family reunions were sometime jokingly referred to as meetings of Shelton Presbytery.
Helen worked variously as an English teacher and a music teacher. She worked as an archivist for the Tennessee State Library and Archives in Nashville and was University Archivist for Western Kentucky University.
Helen is survived by her children, James Terry Knight of Memphis, Tennessee, Susan Knight Gore (Matthew) of Bartlett, Tennessee, the Reverend John Geoffrey Knight of Houston, Texas, grandchildren Daniel Knight (Nina), Allison Stallings (Jonathan), Marisa Knight (William Black), and five great grandchildren.
A graveside service will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday at the Thomas Terry Knight Cemetery off Rocky Hollow Road in Erin, Tennessee, with the Rev. Geoffrey Knight presiding.
Serving as pallbearers will be Terry Knight, Matthew Gore, Dan Knight, Harold Knight, Lanny Knight and Tom Ashley.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the James Wade and Helen Shelton Knight Endowment to benefit the Pastoral Development Ministry Team of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, 8207 Traditional Place, Cordova, Tennessee, 38016.
Arrangements are in the care of Nave Funeral Home, (931) 289-4277, NaveFuneralHomes.com.
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Bowling Green Daily News
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