Odious Odell "Odee" Knight Jr.

Retired Lt. Col. Odious Odell "Odee" Knight Jr.

Retired Lt. Col. Odious Odell "Odee" Knight Jr., 60, of Tampa, Fla., passed away Friday, March 30, 2007.

Knight was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant of Infantry from Clemson University, was a Platoon Leader in Augsberg, Germany, attended flight school at Fort Rucker, and served in Vietnam as an aviation platoon leader. He returned to the United States and served at Fort. Jackson, S.C. He was assigned to Stuttgart, Germany from 1977 until 1979; the 82nd Airborne Division from 1979 until 1983; the Pentagon Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff fro Personnel from 1983 until 1985; Muchengladbach, Germany from 1985 until 1987; the Armed Forces Staff College from 1989 until 1990; instructed at the Armed Forces Staff College from 1990 until 1993; and retired as a Lt. Col. in 1993.

Knight then became a Department of the Army civilian upon retirement, serving in Army Operations Command. He was an employee of California Microwave from 1997 until 2003 and from 2203 until present, he was the manager of Field Marketing and Business Development for Northrup-Grumman.

Knight was preceded in death by his parent, Odious Odell and Lucy Knight.

Survivors include his wife, Mariann Knight; sons, Odious Odell Knight III and Ashley Brett Knight; daughter, Lauren Clark Knight; step-daughter, Devan Elisabeth Radtke; sisters, Cynthia Knight Pruitt and husband, James R. Pruitt, Anna Suzette Knight and husband, Gerald Warren; mother-in-law and father-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Lester Dorsett; niece, Shannon Elizabeth Vaughn, nephew, Jaime Pruitt.

Funeral services will be Thursday, April 5, at 2 p.m. at the MacDill Air Force Base Chapel.