Dad, Friend Remembered for Humor and Devotion

A jokester. A fisherman. A racecar driver. A dad. A very proud grandfather and a husband of almost 38 years. Those are some of the things that can be said of William Knight, who passed away Sunday after a determined battle with pancreatic cancer.

Billy Knight, 56, grew up in Unionville, worked in construction all his life and loved his community. Friends say he spent his life doing what he loved and pouring out all he had on Unionville, the fire service and his family.

“Billy made a huge contribution to the fire service in Farmington,” said Jeff Hogan, assistant fire chief for Farmington Volunteer Fire Department. “He always wore his heart on his sleeve and had the best interests of the fire service and the town in mind. His loss was a huge loss to the town.”

Knight was a member of Tunxis Hose Co. #1 for more than 20 years. He worked his way up and served as fire chief for two years.

Paul Marci grew up with Knight and served alongside him at Tunxis Hose.

“He liked to fool around, whether it’s telling a joke or just saying something funny. He had a lot of friends over the years that he met through racing and everything,” Marci said.

Knight had so many friends that a pasta supper held at the Knights of Columbus to help with his medical bills brought out more than 450 people just by word of mouth.

“He was the most heart loving guy that you would ever know,” said his son, Billy. “He would give the shirt off his back for anyone and he was a great third base coach.”

Allison Knight explained that her dad would help with her brother’s baseball games and occasionally play when the team was short players.

Ball games are just one of the many places Knight will be remembered. Behind the wheel of an antique fire truck, a 1935 maxim the Tunxis Hose muster team used in competitions, is another. Knight was the team’s captain.

“His passion was the muster team,” said Jeff Hawkes, who knew Knight from the fire service and Unionville's Knights of Columbus. “We used to run in a league with fire departments from all over … even after we stopped running, he continued going to Mass. to watch the other teams compete.”

Knight got along well with any vehicle and in his younger years was found behind the wheel at Stafford Motor Speedway, driving the Knight Racing Team car in the Modified Series.

Fishing was another passion of Knight’s.

“He could fish seven days a week, 24 hours a day,” Hawkes said. “He always went once a year to Ontario with his brother and a couple of guys but he was just as happy to sit down on the Farmington River with his poles and fish for hours, then throw them back in.”

“We had a boat and we used to always go up to Twin Lakes. His goal was to get us off the tube when we would go tubing,” Alli Knight recalled.

When Knight was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer two years ago, he refused to let that stop him.  

“He got diagnosed with cancer two years ago and he absolutely fought right to the last day,” Hawkes said. “Whatever the doctors told him to do, he’d do double. He prolonged his life many months by just absolutely fighting."

Part of the reason for Knight’s determination was his adoration of his granddaughter, Dakota.

“He loved his granddaughter Dakota — she’s 9 months today — he looked forward to seeing her every day,” Alli said Tuesday of her first baby. “He said that was what kept him going; that was his medicine.”

Though friends — and he had hundreds of friends — describe him as big-hearted and generous, he wasn’t afraid to call things like he saw them.

“He was one of the most down-to-earth, straight-forward people you’d ever meet,” Hawkes said. “He’d give you his opinion and you knew it might not be what you wanted to hear.”

Still, Alli said, “he lived his life with no regrets and that’s for sure.”

Funeral arrangement information is available here.