Barbara Jean Knowles

Barbara Jean Knowles, age 92, passed away peacefully on Friday, November 28, 2025 at her home in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania surrounded by her loving family. 

Born in Newport, Rhode Island, Barbara was the daughter of Alexander and Anna (Hasselquist) Erickson.  She was the devoted baby sister to the late Gustaf A. Erickson, Clarence Erickson, Harry R. Erickson, Anna L. Erickson and John C. Erickson.

Barbara, “Bobbsy” as she was fondly called, graduated from Rogers High School in Newport, class of 1951 and went on to earn a degree in nursing in 1954 from the Rhode Island Hospital School of Nursing.  It was at the hospital that she met a lanky boy named Robert Knowles who was working in the blood bank to support his studies at Brown University. After graduation, Barbara worked as a registered nurse for a brief time in Hollywood, California before returning to Newport to marry Robert, with whom she shared 66 wonderful years of marriage. During their life together, Barbara and Robert lived in Cleveland, Ohio; Great Lakes, Michigan; Hershey, Pennsylvania; eventually settling down in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania.  Barbara worked as a nurse for General Motors in Cleveland before welcoming and raising four children. From there she moved on to become the RN Charge Nurse for the 3-11 shift at Kendal Crosslands Retirement Community until her retirement in 1995. 

Barbara was a devoted and loving wife, mother and oma. She touched many lives with her warmth, generosity, and willingness to see good in others. She loved to travel and spent many trips with Robert exploring the western United States and revisiting her New England roots.  She saw much of the world including her ancestral countries of Sweden and Finland along with the rest of Europe, Russia, Turkey, China, Southeast Asia (Thailand, Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam), Panama, Ecuador and Peru. Barbara especially enjoyed being a “Member of the Bored”, a close group of friends who often visited and traveled together.

Barbara was active in the Kennett Square Area Newcomer’s Club (KSANC) enjoying the gourmet club. Other pastimes included ballroom dancing with The Dance Group; attending theater and luncheons with a Chadds Ford teachers’ group where she was an honorary member; and as a volunteer tutor for the Kennett Library Adult Literacy Program teaching English as a Second Language where she was very proud to help others.  She loved to read. Barbara had a special fondness for gardening and maintained a beautiful garden that bloomed all summer long. She and Robert could be found there many evenings as they watched first their kids and then their grandkids play and swim.

Barbara was an avid tennis player with a proud competitive streak who opened her home court to many groups to play on throughout the summer months. She learned to play bridge in retirement and spent many afternoons with her bridge groups. She enjoyed playing board games, especially Sequence, with her grandkids and was gracious enough in recent years to sit through rounds and rounds of the Werewolves game.

No place more in life did Barbara make an impact than to her family who loved her dearly. Barbara was the rock who brought the family together holiday after holiday, year after year, and will be forever missed. She is survived by her children, Kathy Knowles of Dover, Delaware, Kenneth Knowles of Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, Mark Knowles of Lincoln, Vermont, Lynn Knowles and her husband Jan Pilch of Homburg, Germany, her grandchildren, Jaden, Sophie and Anna Pilch, her brother-in-law Donald Knowles and his wife MaryAnne, her sister-in-law Eunice Potts and her husband Robert, many nieces and nephews and Golden Retriever Abbey. 

Barbara will be buried next to Robert in the Middletown Four Corners Cemetery, 350 E Main Rd, Middletown, Rhode Island.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial donations to the Kennett Library or to any other organization you choose.