Richard Radbourne Knowles

Richard Knowles, 81, long-time newspaper publisher and community developer, died Saturday, February 14, 2009 of pulmonary fibrosis at Mercy Hospital in Des Moines. He was born May 8, 1927 at Oelwein to Clarke and Violet (Peters) Knowles. He married Deloris (Tootie) Kern on September 12, 1945 at Oelwein. The couple had four sons: Richard R.G., Gregg, Brad, and Mark. Dick and Tootie first met in the fourth grade. She noticed something special about him -he was smart. He was also poor, dirt poor. His first steady paycheck came from delivering the Des Moines Register. He learned the value of self-reliance early on. Because it was a railroad hub, Oelwein was a bustling town with a diverse population. In his working-class neighborhood, he was as likely to hear Italian spoken as English. He made friends with people from all backgrounds. He developed a philosophy that there was no limit to what could be accomplished if you did not care who got the credit. Knowles owned the Denison Newspapers, Inc. for 50 years. He bought the last 49 percent interest of the paper for his employees as an ESOP, and in 1998 sold the company to the MediaNews Group, owners of the Denver Post. As a newspaperman, Knowles was a writer, photographer, ad salesman, pressman and technological expert - as well as publisher. In life, he was a doer. As president of Crawford County Industrial Development Corporation, he convinced Andy Anderson to come to Denison to build a new packing plant for pork by promising to raise local money to finance the facility. He headed up the capital fund campaign, raising nearly $1 million dollars using the theme, "A farmer a day moves away. Let?s build the plant and help him stay." This plant, which began production in 1958, was called Crawford County Packing Company. In less than two years the Double Circle Co-op, now Farmland Foods, purchased the successful plant. It has been expanded and modernized many times and now employs over 1,600 workers. In 1959, he and Andy and other community leaders used the proceeds from the sale of Crawford County Packing Company to establish Iowa Beef Packers, Inc. This pilot plant eventually grew to become the worlds largest meat processing company employing over 40,000 workers before being sold to Tyson Foods a few years ago. With Ralph Marten and Ernie Raun, Knowles also helped found World Wide Meats in Denison, serving as its chairman of its board. World Wide?s facility later was home to Dubuque Packing Company and Purity Farms and Premium Protein Products. In 1965, Knowles was part of a team of local leaders who established Midwestern College in Denison, serving as its first chairman of the board. Other team leaders were Dick Boeck, Thurman Aarestad and Marten. Later, the campus was purchased by the U.S. Department of Labor as a site for Job Corps, largely through the efforts of Knowles and attorney Allen Nash.. Job Corps? mission is employment training for at-risk youth. Knowles supported Job Corps by word and deed and was bestowed its first-ever Alpha Award, accepting the award on his 69th birthday in Washington, D.C from U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, along with co-winner Lou Rawls, the famous R and B singer. The award is bestowed annually on "those who help Job Corps students shine." It was not the only time Knowles traveled to the nations capital as a spokesman for Denison. He served over a decade as the chairman of the Denison Community Relations Board. Knowles was also the Denison Rotary Club?s first-ever Paul Harris Fellow. (Tootie is also a Paul Harris Fellow.) He was honored as the Denison JayCee?s first Boss of the Year. He was also inducted into Iowas Volunteer Hall of Fame during the states Sesquicentennial year, with Iowa Governor Terry Branstad doing the honors Knowles also was cited for his community service by Governor Tom Vilsack. Knowles was a 60-year American Legion pin member and a 50- year Masonic certificate holder. He joined the United States Navy in 1945, the year he graduated from Oelwein High. He was honorably discharged in 1948. He used the GI Bill to attend Upper Iowa University in Fayette, graduating in 1949 magna cum laude with three majors (accounting, math and business administration). Throughout his life, Knowles continued to support education, especially Oelwein High School and Upper Iowa. He was the president of the Upper Iowa Alumni Association and organized the Oelwein All-School Reunion, "The Forties Return". His newspaper gave unwavering support to Denison High School. He also gave moral and financial support to the Norelius Community Library and the Crawford County Memorial Hospital through personal contributions and fund-raising efforts. While attending college, he worked for the Oelwein Daily Register as a pressman. At the same time, he also worked for the Chicago Great Western Railroad. He later became an advertising salesman at tha