Barney Maxwell Knight

1939 - 2023

Barney Knight

Barney Maxwell Knight, the son of the late Barney Franklin Knight and Bertha Lucille Knight, grew up on the family dairy farm "Knight's Dairy," in Brunswick, with two sisters and a brother in a farmhouse full of uncles, aunts and cousins. He died Jan. 19.

After finishing his secondary education, Max left the farm for prep school in Washington D.C., followed by a four year tour in the Navy. During a fortunate port of call in Newport, Rhode Island, he met Eleanor Georgianna and married her on June 7, 1958. They relocated to Cocoa Beach, where they started their family. Following Cocoa Beach, they went to graduate school at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida.

Following graduate school, Max went back to work at the Cape with the space program during the 1960s. He would often tell stories of working with the astronauts on the "race to the moon," with a moment where he buckled Alan Sheppard into the spacecraft and told him, "You're all set."

After the Apollo mission, they moved their large family north to New Jersey for a few yea toVirginia in 1975 to Manassas and ultimately settled into Brandy Station in 1977. Together they raised five children, and many horses, cows and sheep on that little farm in Brandy.

Max retired from IBM after 25 years of service in 1995. Ellie retired from Rosson & Troilo around the same time. They sold the family farm in Brandy Station and moved east to Burgess, Virginia, to follow their dreams of sailing, taking winters in the Caribbean.

They made many dear friends throughout their years and enjoyed their time in Horn Harbor during their golden years, entertaining friends with sunset G&Ts, and with their grandchildren with crabbing, golfing and sailing on nutshells on Horn Harbor. Max was a loving husband and father who cherished his children, grandchildren & great-grandchildren.

Max did not love snakes, traffic, Florida State, or horses that bite, but loved to sail, sing, play guitar, piano and golf, the Florida Gators, and building things (barns, boats, and omelets), always dreaming about his next boat and sailing adventure.

He was preceded in death by Eleanor Georgianna Knight, Jan. 8, 1939 - Oct. 16, 2021.

A funeral service will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 28, 2023, at St. Ignatius Church, 2906 Demere Road, on St. Simons Island. Interment will follow in Palmetto Cemetery, in Brunswick.

Found and Sons Chapels and Cremation Service is in charge of the arrangements.

Family-placed obituary

The Brunswick News, January 14, 2023