John Knox

John Knox, 83, of Bismarck, formerly of Michigan and Marco Island, Florida, passed away on Thursday, May 9, 2024, at Touchmark Retirement Community, Bismarck, ND.

Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 11:00 AM, Tuesday, May 14, at Ascension Catholic Church, 1825 S 3rd St, Bismarck.

John Knox was born on June 19, 1940 in Armendale Scotland to John and Mary and John Knox. John immigrated to the United States in 1948 on the Queen Mary I. John received his citizenship in 1958 when he turned 18.

After graduation from Denby High School he started taking Mechanical Engineering Classes at the University of Detroit. While in school he started working at Fruehauf Trailer helping to design trailer parts. At this time John met his forever girl Florence Carr, and on June 21, 1962 they were united in marriage. John’s engineering talent led him to Dodge Truck in the truck engineering department. A highlight of his time at Dodge Truck was that he was part of the design team of the original Dodge RAM. What many don’t know was that the RAM was originally a semi-truck. In the early 70’s John’s career took him to Diamond REO Trucks home of “The World's Toughest Truck” in Lansing MI, John’s mechanical engineering talent took him up the management ladder and he became head of the Engineering Department. The company soon closed its doors, and that’s when John’s career took a turn. John and three other engineering friends from Diamond REO Trucks decided to start their own company designing custom Fire Engine chassis, hence Spartan Motors was created in Charlotte Michigan. The company was a large success, you can even see some of these trucks on the TV shows “911” and “Chicago Fire” just look by the doors where the fire fighters get out and you will see the Spartan Logo. 

Retirement started for John after his son, John got married to Cindy, he and Florence moved to Marco Island in Florida where they lived for 30 plus years. John enjoyed playing golf and tennis every day. John and Florence enjoyed traveling and cruising over those years. Many friends were entertained at their place on Marco. A good time was when son John and family would come down to play on the beach, visit the zoo in Naples, look for alligators along Alligator Alley and go to Wootton’s, and the two John’s would play some golf. As the grandchildren became older they made the trip to visit either together or individually always complete with the visits to Alligator Alley and Wootton’s but also shopping for Carrie and fishing for Bud. 

 In 2021 John and Florence decided it was time to leave Marco Island and moved to Englewood FL.  In 2022 while visiting the family in North Dakota and awaiting the birth of their second great-grandson Hurricane Ian destroyed their home, so they stayed in North Dakota to be near family.  In 2023 John and Florence moved to Touchmark Retirement Community, a short time later John was diagnosed with Dementia/Alzheimer’s and moved into the Memory Care unit, he quickly became a favorite among the staff.

John is survived by his wife, Florence (Carr) Knox, son John & daughter-in-law, Cindy (Morey) Knox: grandchildren, John Alan Knox & his fiancé, Alena Goergen and Carrie (Knox) Christensen & her husband Logan Christensen; and great grandsons, Milo and Emmett Christensen. John was preceded in death by his parents, John & Mary (Willey) Knox; brothers, David & Gail Knox, Bobby & Ellen Knox, and his sister Margret & Corneil Smits, and many nephews & nieces.

Memorial are preferred to the Alzheimer’s Association or the Hospice of the Red River Valley.