Cartoonist John James Knudsen Dies at 85
John James Knudsen was a man of many talents. An artist who won national awards
for his cartooning, he also designed and built his own home and wrote a book
recounting his youth in Montana and his service as a B-17 pilot in the Army
Air Forces during World War II.
Mr. Knudsen was a former editorial cartoonist for the Los Angeles Tidings
Catholic newspaper, The San Diego Union and Copley Newspapers. His work was
nationally syndicated.
He grew up with a sense of patriotism and love of family. Although he was
initially rejected by the Navy because of an enlarged heart muscle, he volunteered
for the Army and became a flight instructor.
Mr. Knudsen died May 19 at his San Diego home after a struggle with bone cancer.
He was 85.
His family said Mr. Knudsen's religious faith grew during his military service
and remained strong throughout his life. He was a member of the Equestrian
Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem, a Catholic organization. Mr. Knudsen
was an active member of St. Mary Magdalene Parish in San Diego, where he met
his friend Timothy Cunningham.
Cunningham said they were part of a group with Irish roots that participated
in monthly Masses held at a different parish each month. "For 25 years
we prayed for peace and justice in Northern Ireland," he said.
He said the two often talked about their common backgrounds, growing up during
the Depression and serving as pilots during the war.
Mr. Knudsen was born Nov. 12, 1922, in Great Falls, Mont., to John Christian
Knudsen, an immigrant from Denmark, and Margaret Agnes McCarthy, an Irish immigrant.
He had an older sister and a younger brother, and he grew up hunting, fishing
and farming with his father and brother.
His passion for art took him to Woodbury College in Los Angeles, where he
earned a bachelor's degree in commercial art in 1942. He worked nights at Lockheed
Aircraft to pay for his education.
He was in the Army Air Forces from 1943 to 1946 and was on track to be a pilot
on the B-29 Superfortress, the same kind of plane that dropped the world's
first atomic bomb in Hiroshima. By the time Mr. Knudsen was ready, Japan had
surrendered.
After the war, Mr. Knudsen started his art career in Los Angeles, where he
met his future wife, Mary E. Martin, on a blind date.
"We went to a Gershwin concert at the Hollywood Bowl," she said.
They married in 1947 and raised eight children.
Mr. Knudsen, who had developed an interest in architecture, bought an acre
in Whittier and designed and built a house for his family.
"He bought books and taught himself. . . . We did most of (the building)
ourselves," his wife said.
The family moved to San Diego in 1971 and Mr. Knudsen worked drawing editorial
cartoons for The San Diego Union until 1977. He was a member of the Association
of American Editorial Cartoonists
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