Ann Hansen Knepp

Ann Hansen Knepp, formerly known as Ann Hansen Gamble, died at Collins House in Franklin, PA on September 22, 2024. Annie was born on May 17, 1938, to Donna June Grinnell Hansen and Grant Oscar Hansen in Spokane, Washington. Her father was a Naval Officer. She lived in thirty houses by the time she graduated from college. She lived in Honolulu when Pearl Harbor was bombed. She went to 12 schools, graduating from Washington-Lee High School in Arlington, Virginia, in 1956. She graduated from Pembroke College of Brown University as student body president, class of 1960. She then went to Georgetown University Law Center, graduating in 1965. She was the mother of Susan Knapp, Andrew Gamble, and Barrett Gamble, and the grandmother of Jack Middleton, Samuel Middleton, Alice Gamble, Grace Ann Gamble and Joseph Gamble. She married Burton Edward Knepp, Jr. on March 2, 1982. He survives, as do her sisters Sarah Hansen, Martha Adams, and Amanda Hansen.

Annie passed the bar exam the first time in both California and Pennsylvania. She began a formidable and impactful practice of law in Titusville in 1975, retiring in 2006.

While living in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania, she was a member of the AAUW and served as President of the League of Women Voters. In Titusville she belonged to St. James Memorial Episcopal Church, serving on the Vestry. She served as President of YWCA Board of Directors, the Benson Library Board of Directors, Business and Professional Women's Club, Titusville Chamber of Commerce, Crawford County Bar Association, Titusville Area United Way Board (over 40 years, Emeritus, Martha Volkstadt Award), and Titusville Area Garden Club. She was a member of Welcome Wagon, The University of Pittsburgh at Titusville Advisory Board (also teaching Business Law), Titusville City Zoning Board, and served as Assistant City Solicitor.

She was well known for her needlework. After retiring from the practice of law, she and Ed founded "Annie's Keepers," which manufactures accessories for needleworking. The products are sold worldwide.

She loved everything about gardening, both inside and out. She had over 100 varieties of African Violets, until they acquired a disease that killed them all. She then collected Amaryllis. Outside she had hundreds of crocus, daffodils, and tulips in the garden she and Ed called Church Run Falls Park.

She loved her birth date as it is the National Day of Norway, she being descended from Norwegians who came here and fought in the Civil War. She was also descended from two Salem witches, as well as a man who was the flag bearer for the Duke of Wellington at the Battle of Waterloo.

Of all the places she lived, her favorite was Coronado, California, where everyone was friends. She moved from there to Norfolk, Virginia, when the schools were segregated, and African Americans had to ride in the back of the bus. That radicalized her, and she advocated for civil rights for the rest of her life.

The funeral will be at St. James Memorial Church on Saturday, November 23. Memorials may be made to St. James, Brown University, the Titusville YWCA or Benson Memorial Library.

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