Larry Knight

Larry Vinson Knight, beloved son, father, husband, grandfather, friend, physicist, BYU sports fan, and ultimate optimist passed away on Tuesday, September 10, 2024.
Larry was born to Eldred Vinson Knight and Hattie Birgithe Madson Knight, in Pocatello, Idaho on March 13th, 1935. Sadly, Larry's dad, Eldred, passed away when Larry was a toddler. Hattie never remarried and Larry grew up as an only child. His childhood was full of adventures: he was kicked out of kindergarten because the teacher at the one room schoolhouse deemed him too young. With his mom away at college and his grandparents busy with their own chores, Larry spent the year playing by himself on the heavy equipment at his family's farm in Malad, Idaho. The next year he moved with his mother, grandmother, aunts and uncles to live together in a small home in Provo, Utah where his mother found work as the librarian at Brigham Young University. Larry was proud of his mom and held up her ambition and tenacity as a model for his children. Because his mom was away at work, Larry spent his days roaming the hills and streets of Provo, getting spooked watching Dracula and other movies downtown, and starting his work career at BYU's botany pond picking up trash for ten cents an hour at age eight. As a teenager, he played basketball and football at BY High and worked summers as a bellhop at Zion National Park. He sang the songs to prove it.
Larry served in the Northern California Mission, which at that time covered half of the state. When he came home, he married his sweetheart, Jewel Olpin, on August 19, 1957. He studied physics at Brigham Young University and got his doctorate at Stanford. He went on to work at Hewlett Packard and lived in the Bay Area for a number of years. He then moved to Provo and was a professor of physics at BYU, earning the nickname Laser Larry. During that time he started the company Moxtek, consulted at Lawrence Livermore Labs, and traveled the world visiting universities and speaking at conferences. After he retired, he served missions with Jewel in Washington DC, USA; Villa Hermosa, Mexico; London, England and later with his second wonderful wife, JoAnn Lytle, in the Tallahassee, Florida mission, specifically Choctaw County, Alabama.
Larry and Jewel had nine children, as he liked to say, he was an only child that overcompensated. He and Jewel were excellent examples of hard work, compassion, and charity. When Jewel became sick with Alzheimer's Disease, Larry tenderly took care of her. He later married JoAnn and loved her dearly. We are so grateful for JoAnn.
Dad was a good sport in a million different ways: he dressed up as Frankenstein for Halloween to help our mom at her elementary school parties, he went to every single sports event of every single child and was baffled if they ever lost, he did liquid nitrogen and laser shows in many elementary school classrooms, and he was the proud star of "Downtown Dining with Larry."
Dad had a profound and deep testimony of Jesus Christ. He served with gentleness and humility wherever he was asked. He was an early morning seminary teacher, a patriarch, an MTC branch president, a temple worker and a diligent and consistent minister.
Dad loved bratwurst, pickled beets, fish casserole, macaroni salad, omelets, sauerkraut, salami cheese pickle patties, summer sausage, and red onions and cucumber salad. He loved to watch and listen to BYU sports on full volume and could break down every play. It was always the referee's fault. He liked early morning walks with Mom, making Cream of Wheat and raisin breakfasts for the family, singing his endless songs, running marathons, watching "The Milagro Beanfield War", wearing his Russian fur hat, walking twenty or forty blocks with his walker, and watching mysteries with JoAnn. Dad was never going to be old.
Dad leaves behind his wife JoAnn and seven children including Karen (Bill) Cushenberry, Leslie (Terry) Rock, Joe (Donielle) Knight, Sandy (Doug) Dearden, Dan (Amy) Knight, Katy Knight and Ann Dee (Cameron) Ellis, thirty-one grandchildren and thirty-five great grandchildren with more on the way. He is now reunited with his wife Jewel; his sons Sam and Tommy; his son-in-law, Ron; his granddaughter, Kristi; his great granddaughter, Charlotte and his parents Hattie and Eldred.
An evening viewing will be held Sunday, September 15, 2024 from 6:00 - 8:00 pm at the Oak Hills Stake Center, (925 East North Temple Drive, Provo, Utah, 84604)
Funeral services will be held Monday, September 16, 2024 at 11:00 am also at the Stake Center, where family and friends may attend a viewing from 9:30 -10:30 am prior to the services. Interment will be in the Pleasant Grove City Cemetery.
Our gratitude to the staff at the Beehive Home of Provo for their care and special attention to Larry.
That which is of God is light; and he that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day. Doctrine and Covenants 50:24
Condolences may be sent to the family at www.olpinmortuary.com.