Ann Reed Knott dies at 92

Ann Reed Knott, a leading supporter of the ministries of the Little Sisters of the Poor, died Aug. 18. She was 92. A funeral Mass was offered Aug. 24 at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Homeland, where Knott and her husband, John L. Knott Sr., were one of the founding families.

Frank Knott, one of Ann Reed Knott’s nine children, remembered his mother as a woman dedicated to her faith. She and her husband were devoted to the Little Sisters ever since the nuns took in a relative in the 1920s, he said.

Ann Reed Knott co-founded the Little Sisters Ladies Auxiliary some 45 years ago, raising money through card parties, fashion shows and other events to support the work of the sisters. She helped launch a program to make care packages for residents of St. Martin’s Home for the Aged, which is a Catonsville-based ministry of the Little Sisters.

“She was really impressed with the sisters’ total commitment to the elderly,” said Frank Knott, noting that his mother and father prayed the rosary every night with the family. “She admired the simple life they led.”

Ann Reed Knott graduated from the School of the Cathedral in 1931 and the Institute of Notre Dame in 1935. During her senior year of high school, she taught English to Chinese men at Grace and St. Peter’s Church in Baltimore. She was a member of the Women’s Civic League for many years and was the major provider of Lilies of the Valley for their annual Flower Mart.

Sister Celine de la Visitation, French-based international superior of the Little Sisters, called Ann Reed Knott “self-forgetful and always ready to do for others.”

In addition to her husband, Ann Reed Knott is survived by nine children, 22 grandchildren and 14 great grandchildren.