Med School Prof, Son Die in Crash

              SHREVEPORT JOURNAL, JAN. 4, 1973, Thursday
Dr. Robert Knapp Jr. Paul Knapp
Med School Prof,
Son Die in Crash
A professor at the LSU-Shreveport
School of Medi-cine,
Dr. Robert D. Knapp Jr.,
and his teen-age son, Paul,
were killed i n s t a n t l y in
the crash of their single-en-gine
Cherokee 180 airplane
about 10:30 p.m. Wednesday
night near Montgomery, Ala.,
while attempting to make an
emergency landing.
According to Montgomery
officials, Knapp, 50, and his
son, Paul, 16, both of 400
Southfield Rd., were the lone
occupants of the plane and
reported about 10 30 p.m. to
Maxwell Air Force Base just
northwest of Montgomery that
they were running low of fuel.
OFFICIALS SAID that base
officials lost contact with the
plane as it was making an
approach to the air base and
that the wreckage was found
around midnight some three
miles north of the base
between Montgomery and
Prattville, Ala.
Alabama authorities said
the two Shreveporters had
filed a flight plan from
Panama City, Fla., to Shreve-port
with stops in Alabama.
However, they said the Mont-gomery
landing was apparent-ly
necessitated by the low fuel
since the flight plan did not
indicate such a stop.
NEWSPAPER officials in
Montgomery said the plane
went down in a very populat-ed
area but did not cause any
additional destruction. The
front nose section and a wing
of the plane were strewn in
the wreck area with both
bodies found outside the
wreckage. It has not been
determined who was piloting
the craft at the time of the
crash.
Officials said the two men
were apparently returning
from a football game in
Florida as two ticket stubs
were found from the Gator
Bowl game at Jacksonville,
Fla.
DR. KNAPP a s s u m e d
duties as professor and head,
Department of Family Medi-cine
and Comprehensive Care,
at LSU School of Medicine in
Shreveport in July, 1971. Prior
to joining the local medical
staff, Dr. Knapp was affiliated
with Mayo Clinic in Roches-ter,
Minn.
He first was appointed to
the Mayo Clinic staff on June
1, 1961, as a member of the
Section of Publications. From
May, 1963, through June 9,
1964, Dr. Knapp served as
editor of the Journal of the
American Association for the
Study of Headache. He re-signed
from the staff of the
Mayo Clinic in February of
See CRASH, Page 6-A
* CRASH
From Page One
1971 to assume duties with the
local medical school.
FROM 1953 to 1959, Dr.
Knapp was in the private
practice of medicine in Pine-dale,
Wyo., where he also was
a member of the Teton County
Medical Society and the Wyo-ming
State Medical Society.
In 1959, he moved to Kalama-zoo,
Mich., wher hee became
associated with the Upjohn
Company as a medical writer.
Dr. Knapp served in the
Medical Department of the
United States Army in 1943
and 1944 and with the Army
Air Force in 1944 and 1945,
holding the rank of First
Liutenant at his discharge in
June, 1946.
Born in El Paso, Tex. on
April 9, 1922, he was the son
of Katherine Hamblin Knapp
and Brig. Gen. Robert D.
Knapp. He attended the New
Mexico Military Institute in
Roswell, N.M., Auburn Uni-versity
in Auburn, Ala., the
College of William and Mary
in Williamsburg, Va. and
Columbian College, George
Washington University in
Washington, D.C., receiving a
bachelor of arts in germanie
languages and literal me from
the latter.
HE RECEIVED his medical
education at George Washing-ton
University School of Medi-cine,
and and took his intern-ship
at Mary Imogene Basset
Hospital in Cooperstown, N.Y.
The author and co-author of
numerous articles, papers,
and films, Dr. Knapp was a
member of the Shreveport
Medical Society, the Louisiana
State Medical Society, the
Society of Teachers of Family
Medicine, the American Aca-demy
of Family Physicians
and the Association of Ameri-can
Physicians and Surgeons.
Dr. Knapp is survived by
his wife, the former Carolyn
Sperry of Winnetka, Ill.; his
father, Brig. Gen. Knapp of
Auburn, Ala.; one sister, Mrs.
Fred Sapin of Arlington, Va.;
and four other children, Rufus
Putnam, Robert Bowden, Ju-lian
Brannon and Dorothea
Ham Win Knapp, all of Shreve-port.
Dr. Knapp's 16-year-old son,
Paul Morgan Knapp, also
killed in he crash, was bora
April 18, 1956, in Cheyenne,
Wyo. He had attended South-field
School since his family
moved to Shreveport and was
a member of the school's
junior dass.
Southfield School officials
said young Knapp was "one of
our most outstanding stu-dents"
and was secretary of
the Student Council, and had
organized and participated in
the school's first chess club. A
member of the Latin Club and
an honor student, the youth
was an active member of the
school's 1972 basketball team
and was photographer for the
footbail team for two years.
He also held membership in
the South Shreveport YMCA
Judo Club.
OTHER THAN his mother,
sisters and brothers, the youth]
is survived by his maternal
grandimother, Mrs. P h i l i p
Marincic; paternal grandfa-ther,
Brig. Gen. Knapp; three
aunts and three uncles.
Funeral arrangements for
Dr. Knapp and his son are
pending at Osborne Funeral
Home but the family requests
that any memorials be sent to
the Robert D. Knapp Jr.
Memorial Fund at LSU Medi-|
cal School in Shreveport.