PIEDMONT — A starstruck father and a go-getter mother made for a happy, lively household in the Knowland family.
Those memories are still vivid for Bill Knowland as he reflects on his mother, Dolores “Dee” Knowland, 90, who passed away March 10 in Walnut Creek’s Rossmoor district. In addition to being the widow of the late Joe Knowland, the last of the Knowland family to serve as publisher of The Oakland Tribune, she was an entrepreneur who was active in Oakland civic life. Bill Knowland and his family grew up in Piedmont, where the kids would play in the cul de sac they lived on.
“Making (home) movies was inspired by my dad. He loved show business. My parents did little plays together. They performed together, singing and dancing. It was inspirational to me seeing them play the piano at Christmastime and Dad doing a soft shoe for the assembled guests,” Bill Knowland said this week.
Dee Knowland’s name is associated with entrepreneurship, luxury real estate, impressive fundraising and awards. She and her husband co-chaired the campaign to restore Oakland’s art deco Paramount Theatre. She also served on the honorary board to support the restoration project for Oakland’s Fox Theater. She started a health and beauty center, “The Best Me,” and sold and marketed an elite beauty cream, Crème de la Mer. She was a top agent for Compass Realty in Walnut Creek, winning an award as one of the top 100 agents in the United States.
“Mom got into real estate in her 50s,” her son said. “People liked her so much they would keep in touch for years, with Christmas cards and notes. “She was a great mother. She looked after us. She enjoyed what she was doing; it was infectious to other people. Mom and Dad were great parents, family was first for them. We were always well loved, and we loved them. The family would go to the Russian River, they loved it there. Disneyland a few times, Hawaii.”
The close-knit family grieved when the Knowlands’ daughter, Rebecca, died in 2016 from Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Then Dee Knowland lost her husband of 69 years in 2019. The pair were married in 1950 in Olney, Maryland, later moving to Oakland, then Piedmont in the early 1960s and back to Oakland in the late 1980s, in the Rockridge district.
Her husband, Joe Knowland, took over as publisher of the Oakland Tribune in 1974 after having started as a cub reporter there 20 years earlier. His heart was not in newspaper publishing, though, and in 1977 the newspaper was sold to a communications corporation, ending the legacy of three generations of Knowlands operating the Oakland Tribune. Joe Knowland then decided to pursue an acting career, which Dee Knowland didn’t seem to mind. He had minor roles in “Escape from Alcatraz” in 1979, “Star Trek IV” in 1986 and two other movies.
Some clips from the Hayward Historical Society’s social columns show Dee and Joe Knowland heavily committed to the campaign to restore the Paramount Theatre. Other clips from 1975 talk about Dee Knowland’s clique and an event to promote downtown Oakland with a $5-a-plate fundraiser at the Spaghetti Depot in Jack London Square.
A 1983 clip by Tribune columnist Robin Orr has Dee Knowland giving a farewell party to her “Best Me” spa to devote her attention to marketing her $140-a-jar beauty cream. On her Legacy.com obituary page (bayareane.ws/DeeKnowland-obit), friends and associates spoke of Dee Knowland and how she affected those around her.
“I was devastated to hear of Dee’s passing,” Jamie Stonick Rodriguez. “She was an amazing soul and like a grandma to me. I truly loved every minute I spent with her. I am honored to have known her for 15 years. I will miss her deeply.”
“Dee was one of my favorite people in the world! I’m sad and at the same time happy she was reunited with Joseph who loved her so dearly,” Peg Adams wrote. “Dee is in my heart forever.”
Bill Knowland said a celebration of life for his mother will be held in July.
“Mom was a spark of joy. She was really something,” her son said.
She is survived by her son, Bill; daughter, Deanne; daughter-in-law, Beverly; and grandson, Forrest. Memorial donations can be made to American Heart Association, P.O. Box 840692, Dallas, TX 75284.
Linda Davis is a longtime Piedmont correspondent. Contact her with news tips or comments at dlinda249@gmail.com.