Doris Marie (Wilkinson) Knox

Doris Marie (Wilkinson) Knox, 79, of Amarillo, TX passed away on February 26, 2023 in Oklahoma City, Ok.

Services will be at 2:00 p.m., Thursday, March 2, 2023, at Paramount Baptist Church with Lance Herrington as officiant. Private interment will be in Memory Gardens Cemetery. Arrangements are by Boxwell Brothers Funeral Directors.

Doris was born June 28, 1943, in Sundown, TX to Dee Otis and Juanita Sitz Wilkinson. She had a Master of Library Science degree from UNT, Bachelor’s in Education from WT, and Associate’s degree from South Plains College. She worked for Sanford-Fritch ISD for most of her career as their district-wide library director. She married Gordon in 1966.

Mom was a remarkable woman who was fiercely independent and even more fiercely loving. She was our family’s anchor, moral and emotional guide and compass, and the ultimate Matriarch of the enormous brood of kids, bonus kids, grandkids, and bonus grandkids she collected over the years. Her greatest passions were her family, her books, and her gardens. She was a master at making anything grow; whether that be plants or children, and she passed on her immense love of literature and gardening to everyone she raised or helped raise. She has literally thousands of former students across the Panhandle who were blessed to have for their schools’ libraries the best librarian they could have possibly hoped for who instilled not simply a love of reading, but a love of critical thinking in what they read. Book bans in Mom’s schools were simply not allowed and if a parent tried to, she would make the complaining parent read the book they were angry about and then write her a book report detailing exactly what in the book was unsuitable for her library. She rarely received those homework assignments back from anyone 😊

Mom was a force of nature in a tiny Scotch-Irish body; much like a tornado mixed with a volcano. She was fiery, to say the least. Our little Mama could go from sweetest grandma on the planet to “EVERYONE RUN!!!” in 0.0005 seconds flat. She kept the entire family of hooligans on the straight and narrow and we all have no idea how; but she did and we will all be forever grateful we had such a strong force who not only loved us fully and completely, but also managed not to throttle any of us when we were being idgits, and never, ever one time gave up on any of us. Her whole life revolved around her kids, bonus kids, grandkids, bonus grandkids, friends, church, choir, singing, dancing, the beloved home that our Dad designed and built side by side with Mom from the ground up to be their forever home, and, of course, her incredibly glorious gardens. Mom never met a stray she didn’t love, and certainly never could turn any away, whether those strays be cats or kids, and she always had a heart full of love for each and every one, along with a stocked pantry full of the best goodies for all of the strays whom she made hers

Mom’s passing has left an enormous hole in everyone’s lives that cannot be filled, and we all miss her sorely; but we also celebrate that Mom and Dad are together again dancing just as they once did regularly in the moonlight streaming through the windows of the kitchen of their dream home.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband Gordon, and her siblings Wayne, Jimmy, and Dolores.

Doris is survived by children, Jennifer Callahan and husband Seán, and Jeff Knox, grandkids, Maddison James and husband Jesse, Phillip Thompson, Morgan Thompson and fiancé Luke, and Brayden Knox, as well as dozens of ‘bonus kids and grandkids’ and her sister, Sylbia.

In lieu of food, the family and Doris loved houseplants!