Sadie O. Knight

Sadie Ortiz Knight, age 90, resident of Taos, New Mexico, died peacefully on January 27, 2018, at her home. Preceded in death by parents, E.B. Ortiz and Ophelia Santistevan Ortiz; brothers Arthur L. and Joseph E. Ortiz, and nieces Jane Ann Ortiz and Tammy Velasquez. She was also preceded in death by former husband, Herman W. Knight. Sadie is survived by her children, Michael (Tonie), Billy (Lynn), Shirley, and Robbie (Tamara), her grandchildren, Sacha Mayer, Jason, Jaime, Oliver, Demian, Jonathan, Nicholas, and Timothy Knight, her great granddaughters, Rydell Morgan-Carland, and Anika Knight, and great grandsons, Alekzander and Tristan Knight. She is also survived by her siblings, Orlando Ortiz, Lucille Olds, Ted Ortiz (Cecelia) Margaret Werner (Bob), and Anna Marie Velasquez. Biographical Information Sadie was born in Taos, N.M., on June 30, 1927. She attended school in Taos, graduating from Taos High School as class valedictorian. She earned a scholarship to Chillicothe Business College in Chillicothe, MO, and received a Secretarial Certificate. Sadie married Herman W. Knight and together they raised four children. The family lived in Taos until 1965 when they moved to Albuquerque. Sadie was employed at Sandia National Laboratories until 1985 when she took early retirement and returned to her native Taos. In Taos she became active in a number of organizations, serving as secretary and then president of the Taos County Historical Society and subsequently as board member for a number of years. She was president of the Woman’s Division of the Taos County Chamber of Commerce; secretary and then president of the Taos Opera Guild for two terms. She served as secretary of the Guilds of Santa Fe Opera and in 2000; she was selected and served as president of the board for SFO Guilds, Inc. for two years. In 2010, Sadie completed a History of the Guilds of the Santa Fe Opera, Vol. II , which was published and distributed to the members of all seven guilds statewide. In 2014, the Taos Opera Guild named her Taos Opera Guild board Member Emeritus. She was a volunteer at the front desk at the Millicent Rogers Museum for five years (1992-1997). She was a volunteer at the information booth on Taos Plaza for eight years. She was appointed to the first Task Force for the Old Taos county Courthouse by the Taos County Commissioners and served as secretary of the group. Sadie was a volunteer to the Van Vechten - Lineberry Taos Art Museum and later the Taos Art Museum. For many years she was a volunteer at the Harwood Art Museum serving as hostess for receptions and as gallery attendant. She was a lifelong parishioner of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church and served as Lector for twenty years. She also was a dedicated adorer at the St. Philomena Adoration Chapel for several years. One of her busiest and most rewarding years was 1991 when Governor Richardson announced plans to provide the Capitol Christmas Tree. Sadie was co-chair of the Taos Tree in D.C. Committee. After a year of meetings and fundraising events, the project culminated when she and a group of 80 New Mexicans, including a large group from Taos, flew to Washington, D.C. for the lighting ceremony in front of the nation’s capitol on December 11, 1991. The undertaking was huge because the tree committee had elected to transport a live tree from New Mexico’s Carson National Forest. The venture was successful and the tree lived for several years in the National Arboretum in D.C. Sadie was selected Volunteer of the Year by the Taos County Chamber of Commerce in 1992, and Woman of the year in 1994. Sadie was a skier, having taken lessons from Lloyd Bolander with her young family and skiing at Taos Ski Valley until age 85 when she had to give it up, refusing to carry her oxygen tank on the slopes. Sadie skied the NASTAR races and in 2001 was top skier in the state in her age group. She won 10 medals through the years, 1 bronze, 7 silver, and 2 gold. She skied in Innsbruck, Austria, New Zealand, and all over Colorado, in Utah, Idaho, Nevada, and California. She was not an expert skier but truly enjoyed recreational skiing, especially at Taos Ski Valley. Other hobbies were: mountain hiking, music concerts, rock collecting, family gatherings, picnics, etc. Sadie was a dedicated supporter of the arts and an avid reader and lover of the printed word. In honor of Sadie’s love of the arts and concern for others, donations may be made to the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation of New Mexico, P.O. Box 1891, Taos, NM 87529 (575) 758-2413, or Taos Feeds Taos, Inc., P.O. Box 234, Taos, NM 87571 Rosary will be recited on Thursday, February 8, 2018 at 6 PM at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church. Funeral mass will be held on Friday, February 9, 2018 at 10 AM at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church with interment to follow at the Sierra Vista Cemetery.