Individual Details
Duane Van Kniebes
(17 May 1926 - 1 Oct 2020)
The following information on Duane Van Kniebes is based on his curriculum vitae; information provided by Duane himself; and the personal knowledge of his wife, Susan Marie Briles Kniebes.
Duane was born in Marquette, Michigan, on May 17, 1926, to Van C. Kniebes and Doris Leona Reynolds Kniebes. He was the first of their three children. When Duane was born, his father was getting his teaching certificate at Michigan Northern College.
In 1928, the family moved to Gladstone, Michigan, where Van taught instrumental music to grade school through high school students.
In 1930, the family moved to Owosso, Michigan, where, in addition to teaching instrumental music to grade school through high school students, Van was director of the high school orchestra and concert and marching bands.
On March 17, 1931, Duane’s sister Elaine Rita Kniebes was born while the family was living on Shiawassee Street in Owosso. When Duane got old enough, he began playing the coronet and joined his father’s grade and high school bands. Football season saw Duane and two good friends, Bob Barie (1926-1991) and Jim Patterson (1926-2005) announce the arrival of the marching band on the field at each football game by going out on the field first and playing a fanfare. He also earned a number of medals playing his coronet in small ensembles at state contests.
To make spending money, he mowed neighbor’s lawns , Duane worked in a local grocery store for 25 cents an hour, and played coronet in a polka band on Saturday nights.
He was best man at the 1946 wedding of Jim Paterson and Phyllis (Phyl) Smith Patterson, and he and Susan have stayed in touch with them and, after Jim’s 2005 death, with Phyl to this day (October 2006).
While Duane was in grade school and high school, he spent part of each summer with his paternal grandparents, George P. Kniebes and Caroline “Carrie” Rodewald Kniebes, and his maternal grandparents, Charles S. Reynolds and Bertha Adella Rose Reynolds, on their fruit farms east of Benton Harbor, Michigan. While there, he would help with the harvest of such fruits as gooseberries and raspberries.
Duane graduated from Owosso High School in December 1943 and started Michigan State University the following month (January 1944). The summer and fall following his second term at Michigan State he worked in a fruit packing plant in Millburg, Michigan, where some of his co-workers were German prisoners of war. That same summer, Duane’s parents and sister moved from Owosso, Michigan, to St. Joseph, Michigan. Duane’s father, Van Kniebes, opened a music store in “St. Joe” and continued his previous profession of teaching instrumental music and directing the high school band, this time in Watervliet, Berrien County, Michigan. Eventually, Van quit teaching school, and he and Doris spent full time running Kniebes Music Mart in downtown St. Joseph.
Duane was accepted in the Army Air Forces Cadet Program in December 1943 and called for active duty in November 1944. He qualified for pilot training, but, since the pilot-training schools were all full and since he had experience as an amateur photographer, he was “temporarily” assigned to the Photographic Section at Keesler Field in Biloxi, Mississippi. Because Duane was the only member of the Photographic Section who could pass a flight physical, he received his crew member wings and was the one sent out to take aerial photographs as needed. At the Kniebes family cottage on Big Platte Lake near Honor, Michigan, is a large, framed photograph of the Biloxi lighthouse that Duane took while he was assigned to Keesler Field.
World War II ended before there was room for Duane in a pilot-training school. He left the service in November 1945. Taking advantage of the GI Bill, he returned to Michigan State University in January 1946. In June 1948, he graduated from Michigan State with a B.S. in Chemistry.
In January 1949, Duane joined the staff of the Institute of Gas Technology (IGT) on the campus of the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) in Chicago. Duane’s first job at IGT was as an Assistant Chemist.
On August 5, 1950, Duane married Beverly Lou Shockley in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois. He met Bev while she was working as a bookkeeper at the Pennsylvania Railroad. At first they lived in student housing on the IIT Campus. Later they moved to Hinsdale and then Indianhead Park, Illinois.
While Duane was working at IGT, he received his M.S. in Physics from the Illinois Institute of Technology in 1954 by going to night school.
During his 35 years at IGT, Duane served in a number of capacities. Before he retired from IGT in 1984, Duane last served as an Assistant Vice President. In that capacity, he administered IGT’s Analytical Services Department, Technical Information Center, and Publication Services and managed IGT’s international technical assistance projects for gas industry technician training and engineering education in Algeria and Indonesia. While Duane never lived in either country, he made numerous overseas trips to meet with those employees reporting to him who were stationed abroad.
On February 22, 1956, in St. Joseph, Berrien County, Michigan, Duane’s parents had a third child, George Christian “Chris” Kniebes. In 1962 Duane’s parents and his brother Chris moved to Yuma, where Duane’s sister Elaine, her husband Richard “Dick” Peters, and their five children were living and where Dick, a trumpet player, continued the family tradition of teaching of teaching instrumental music and directing the high school band.
Linda Elaine Kniebes joined Duane and Bev’s family on September 13, 1964. She was joined by Carolyn “Carrie” Dianne Kniebes on September 20, 1966 and by Duane and Bev’s son, Van Charles Kniebes, on August 8, 1967.
During his career, Duane was a member of the American Chemical Society and the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM). He served on the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Fuel Gas Standards Management Board, was vice chairman of the ANSI Committee B109 on Gas Displacement Metering for 5 years, and was chairman of the ASTM Committee D3 on Gaseous Fuels for 20 years. He received the “Award of Merit’ from ASTM and the “Gold Award of Merit” from the American Gas Association.
On January 1, 1977, Duane married Susan Marie Briles Kniebes at her parents’ farm near Sycamore, DeKalb County, Illinois. Following Duane’s 1984 retirement from IGT, Duane and Susan relocated to Boulder, Colorado, in 1985 where Susan worked for NBI, a manufacturer of word processing equipment, and several other companies before her retirement in 1999. For additional information on Duane and Susan, see the Notes for Susan Marie Briles elsewhere in these Family Tree Maker files.
While Duane worked at IGT, he received three patents either alone or with other IGT employees. After his retirement, he was the single holder of two patents, which he received in 1992 and 1998. Similarly, Duane was the author or co-author of 34 other publications while he was at IGT and was the sole author of eight publications dealing with the odorization of natural gas following his retirement.
During his retirement, Duane has served as a consultant and expert witness on a large number of law suits in which natural gas and propane odorization played a part.
In 1994 Duane’s son Van, Van’s wife Tina Wiren Kniebes, and their dog Freddie joined Duane and Susan in Boulder. Later Van and Tina bought a house in Lafayette, Colorado, where they were joined by their son William “Will” Van Kniebes on February 13, 2000 and by their daughter Kaitlin “Kaity” Irene Kniebes on January 17, 2004.
Duane had been interested in genealogy even before his retirement, having amassed a considerable amount of genealogical information of the ancestors of his father, Van C. Kniebes. During his retirement, this interest led to his first becoming a member of and then the president of the Colorado chapter of Palatines to America (COPALAM), an organization for individuals researching the genealogy of German-speaking ancestors.
Duane’s involvement with COPALAM led to his volunteering himself and Susan in 1999 as the Larimer County, Colorado, volunteers for the Colorado Cemetery Project, a joint effort of the Colorado Council of Genealogical Societies and the U.S. Geologic Survey to find, GPS-pinpoint, and document all of the graves and cemeteries in Colorado. They became so interested in the history of the individuals buried in Larimer County’s remote graves and smaller, mostly family or ranch cemeteries, that they began writing a book on the graves and cemeteries of Larimer County that includes information on not just the locations and descriptions of the graves/cemeteries but also on the history of the individuals buried therein and the history of the ranches on which the burials are located. As of April 2006, they have found about 150 graves and cemeteries in Larimer County, many of them quite remote and on private property.
When the Coordinator of the Colorado Cemetery Project moved out of state following the death of her husband, Duane took over that position in 2004, which involves finding volunteers to locate, etc., graves and cemeteries in all 64 Colorado counties and overseeing their efforts.
For additional information on Duane’s ancestors and descendants, see his Family Tree Maker files for the Kniebes and Reynolds families.
Duane was born in Marquette, Michigan, on May 17, 1926, to Van C. Kniebes and Doris Leona Reynolds Kniebes. He was the first of their three children. When Duane was born, his father was getting his teaching certificate at Michigan Northern College.
In 1928, the family moved to Gladstone, Michigan, where Van taught instrumental music to grade school through high school students.
In 1930, the family moved to Owosso, Michigan, where, in addition to teaching instrumental music to grade school through high school students, Van was director of the high school orchestra and concert and marching bands.
On March 17, 1931, Duane’s sister Elaine Rita Kniebes was born while the family was living on Shiawassee Street in Owosso. When Duane got old enough, he began playing the coronet and joined his father’s grade and high school bands. Football season saw Duane and two good friends, Bob Barie (1926-1991) and Jim Patterson (1926-2005) announce the arrival of the marching band on the field at each football game by going out on the field first and playing a fanfare. He also earned a number of medals playing his coronet in small ensembles at state contests.
To make spending money, he mowed neighbor’s lawns , Duane worked in a local grocery store for 25 cents an hour, and played coronet in a polka band on Saturday nights.
He was best man at the 1946 wedding of Jim Paterson and Phyllis (Phyl) Smith Patterson, and he and Susan have stayed in touch with them and, after Jim’s 2005 death, with Phyl to this day (October 2006).
While Duane was in grade school and high school, he spent part of each summer with his paternal grandparents, George P. Kniebes and Caroline “Carrie” Rodewald Kniebes, and his maternal grandparents, Charles S. Reynolds and Bertha Adella Rose Reynolds, on their fruit farms east of Benton Harbor, Michigan. While there, he would help with the harvest of such fruits as gooseberries and raspberries.
Duane graduated from Owosso High School in December 1943 and started Michigan State University the following month (January 1944). The summer and fall following his second term at Michigan State he worked in a fruit packing plant in Millburg, Michigan, where some of his co-workers were German prisoners of war. That same summer, Duane’s parents and sister moved from Owosso, Michigan, to St. Joseph, Michigan. Duane’s father, Van Kniebes, opened a music store in “St. Joe” and continued his previous profession of teaching instrumental music and directing the high school band, this time in Watervliet, Berrien County, Michigan. Eventually, Van quit teaching school, and he and Doris spent full time running Kniebes Music Mart in downtown St. Joseph.
Duane was accepted in the Army Air Forces Cadet Program in December 1943 and called for active duty in November 1944. He qualified for pilot training, but, since the pilot-training schools were all full and since he had experience as an amateur photographer, he was “temporarily” assigned to the Photographic Section at Keesler Field in Biloxi, Mississippi. Because Duane was the only member of the Photographic Section who could pass a flight physical, he received his crew member wings and was the one sent out to take aerial photographs as needed. At the Kniebes family cottage on Big Platte Lake near Honor, Michigan, is a large, framed photograph of the Biloxi lighthouse that Duane took while he was assigned to Keesler Field.
World War II ended before there was room for Duane in a pilot-training school. He left the service in November 1945. Taking advantage of the GI Bill, he returned to Michigan State University in January 1946. In June 1948, he graduated from Michigan State with a B.S. in Chemistry.
In January 1949, Duane joined the staff of the Institute of Gas Technology (IGT) on the campus of the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) in Chicago. Duane’s first job at IGT was as an Assistant Chemist.
On August 5, 1950, Duane married Beverly Lou Shockley in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois. He met Bev while she was working as a bookkeeper at the Pennsylvania Railroad. At first they lived in student housing on the IIT Campus. Later they moved to Hinsdale and then Indianhead Park, Illinois.
While Duane was working at IGT, he received his M.S. in Physics from the Illinois Institute of Technology in 1954 by going to night school.
During his 35 years at IGT, Duane served in a number of capacities. Before he retired from IGT in 1984, Duane last served as an Assistant Vice President. In that capacity, he administered IGT’s Analytical Services Department, Technical Information Center, and Publication Services and managed IGT’s international technical assistance projects for gas industry technician training and engineering education in Algeria and Indonesia. While Duane never lived in either country, he made numerous overseas trips to meet with those employees reporting to him who were stationed abroad.
On February 22, 1956, in St. Joseph, Berrien County, Michigan, Duane’s parents had a third child, George Christian “Chris” Kniebes. In 1962 Duane’s parents and his brother Chris moved to Yuma, where Duane’s sister Elaine, her husband Richard “Dick” Peters, and their five children were living and where Dick, a trumpet player, continued the family tradition of teaching of teaching instrumental music and directing the high school band.
Linda Elaine Kniebes joined Duane and Bev’s family on September 13, 1964. She was joined by Carolyn “Carrie” Dianne Kniebes on September 20, 1966 and by Duane and Bev’s son, Van Charles Kniebes, on August 8, 1967.
During his career, Duane was a member of the American Chemical Society and the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM). He served on the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Fuel Gas Standards Management Board, was vice chairman of the ANSI Committee B109 on Gas Displacement Metering for 5 years, and was chairman of the ASTM Committee D3 on Gaseous Fuels for 20 years. He received the “Award of Merit’ from ASTM and the “Gold Award of Merit” from the American Gas Association.
On January 1, 1977, Duane married Susan Marie Briles Kniebes at her parents’ farm near Sycamore, DeKalb County, Illinois. Following Duane’s 1984 retirement from IGT, Duane and Susan relocated to Boulder, Colorado, in 1985 where Susan worked for NBI, a manufacturer of word processing equipment, and several other companies before her retirement in 1999. For additional information on Duane and Susan, see the Notes for Susan Marie Briles elsewhere in these Family Tree Maker files.
While Duane worked at IGT, he received three patents either alone or with other IGT employees. After his retirement, he was the single holder of two patents, which he received in 1992 and 1998. Similarly, Duane was the author or co-author of 34 other publications while he was at IGT and was the sole author of eight publications dealing with the odorization of natural gas following his retirement.
During his retirement, Duane has served as a consultant and expert witness on a large number of law suits in which natural gas and propane odorization played a part.
In 1994 Duane’s son Van, Van’s wife Tina Wiren Kniebes, and their dog Freddie joined Duane and Susan in Boulder. Later Van and Tina bought a house in Lafayette, Colorado, where they were joined by their son William “Will” Van Kniebes on February 13, 2000 and by their daughter Kaitlin “Kaity” Irene Kniebes on January 17, 2004.
Duane had been interested in genealogy even before his retirement, having amassed a considerable amount of genealogical information of the ancestors of his father, Van C. Kniebes. During his retirement, this interest led to his first becoming a member of and then the president of the Colorado chapter of Palatines to America (COPALAM), an organization for individuals researching the genealogy of German-speaking ancestors.
Duane’s involvement with COPALAM led to his volunteering himself and Susan in 1999 as the Larimer County, Colorado, volunteers for the Colorado Cemetery Project, a joint effort of the Colorado Council of Genealogical Societies and the U.S. Geologic Survey to find, GPS-pinpoint, and document all of the graves and cemeteries in Colorado. They became so interested in the history of the individuals buried in Larimer County’s remote graves and smaller, mostly family or ranch cemeteries, that they began writing a book on the graves and cemeteries of Larimer County that includes information on not just the locations and descriptions of the graves/cemeteries but also on the history of the individuals buried therein and the history of the ranches on which the burials are located. As of April 2006, they have found about 150 graves and cemeteries in Larimer County, many of them quite remote and on private property.
When the Coordinator of the Colorado Cemetery Project moved out of state following the death of her husband, Duane took over that position in 2004, which involves finding volunteers to locate, etc., graves and cemeteries in all 64 Colorado counties and overseeing their efforts.
For additional information on Duane’s ancestors and descendants, see his Family Tree Maker files for the Kniebes and Reynolds families.
Events
| Birth | 17 May 1926 | Marquette, Marquette County, Michigan |  | ||
| Military | 13 Nov 1944 | Army Air Forces-WWII | |||
| Marriage | 5 Aug 1950 | Beverly L Shockley | |||
| Marriage | 1 Jan 1977 | DeKalb County, Illinois (on the farm of Susan's parents) - Susan Marie Briles | | ||
| Death | 1 Oct 2020 | of Cancer - Boulder, Colorado, United States | | ||
| Burial | Millburg Cemetery, Millburg, Berrien, Michigan, United States |
Families
| Spouse | Susan Marie Briles (1943 - ) |
| Spouse | Beverly L Shockley ( - ) |
Endnotes
1. Original Briles Family Genealogy Information Collected by Worthie Elwood Briles, Susan Marie Briles Kniebes, and Sara Jea.
2. Original Briles Family Genealogy Information Collected by Worthie Elwood Briles, Susan Marie Briles Kniebes, Sara Jean Br.
3. Death Notice: Crist Mortuary & Cremation and Mountain View Memorial Park .