lit a candle 4h agomy wife put this show on years ago when we first moved to this country and did not speak much english yet, and somehow I still understood the family, that is a strange gift television can give you. I did not know much about this man, he was just the grandfather in the background at the weddings and the birthdays, quiet, always there. 97 years is a long road, and from what the family said he was still cleaning his guns and driving his corvette a few months ago, that made me smile, my own grandfather was the same, stubborn to the end and I mean that with love. he was a Ford engineer for thirty years they said, and a Korean War veteran, I think about men who build things and fight in wars and then just want to sit quiet with their family after, that is a whole life right there. God give him rest. edit: just read he walked Amy down the aisle, that got me a little more than I expected
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Gordon G. Knight was an American civil and structural engineer and Korean War veteran, best known to television audiences as the father of Amy Roloff of the TLC series Little People, Big World. He died on 5 October 2026 at the age of 97. He was born on 1 January…
Gordon G. Knight was an American civil and structural engineer and Korean War veteran, best known to television audiences as the father of Amy Roloff of the TLC series Little People, Big World. He died on 5 October 2026 at the age of 97.
He was born on 1 January 1929 in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Charles and Eveline Knight. He served in the Korean War and then spent 30 years as a civil and structural engineer with the Ford Motor Company before retiring.
With his wife, Patricia, he raised four children: Kathryn, Amy, Roger and Cynthia. The couple lived in Dexter Township, Michigan, and also built a cabin on Lake Michigan in Moran Township in the Upper Peninsula, where they enjoyed the outdoors and worshipped at St. Ignace United Methodist Church. He was a member and lay leader at North Lake United Methodist Church in Chelsea, a member of Pinckney American Legion Post 419, and with Patricia a keen member of the Ottawa Long Rifle group, taking part in historical re-enactments and national rendezvous.
His daughter Amy married Matt Roloff, and as the family's life in Oregon was followed by Little People, Big World from 2006, Knight appeared from time to time as a visiting grandfather. Patricia died in September 2019 at 86, and their daughter Cynthia Norwood also died before him. In August 2021, at 92 and only recently out of hospital, he travelled from Michigan to Oregon to walk Amy down the aisle at her wedding to Chris Marek. She regularly shared visits with him on social media, including his 95th birthday in 2024.
He died on Monday 5 October 2026 at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital. No cause of death was made public. The news reached a wide audience three weeks later, when his grandson Jacob Roloff wrote on Instagram that his grandpa had died and shared childhood photographs, and outlets including Parade and E! News reported it. His obituary remembered a man who was generous with his time, money and care, with a witty sense of humour and a gift for creating, building and surviving. A memorial service was arranged for 5 January 2027 at North Lake United Methodist Church, Chelsea.
Biography adapted from Mitchell Funeral Homes obituary, Parade, E! News and PopCulture.com.
