Christine (Chris) Thurber Knupp
SARASOTA - Christine Thurber Knupp Christine (Chris) Thurber Knupp, 75, passed away peacefully at her home in Sarasota, Florida on April 24, 2024.
Chris grew up in Rochester, NY and graduated from Monroe High School. She attended Vassar College and graduated with an B.A. in Psychology. After Vassar, Chris attended the University of Rochester where she graduated magna cum laude, earning a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner degree. After moving from Rochester to the Boston area, she attended the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and graduated with a Master of Public Health degree.
Chris had a long and successful medical career and dedicated herself to caring for children and underserved communities. After college, Chris worked for the Monroe County Health Department as a public health nurse and pediatric nurse practitioner. Following her relocation to Boston, Chris worked as Assistant Director at the Cambridge Visiting Nursing Association where she developed the agency’s maternal/child health program. From there, she worked at Beth Israel Hospital as a clinical research nurse and consultant to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s Division of Long-Term Care. Another relocation took the family to Portland, Maine where Chris worked as a public health nurse for the Maine Center for Disease Control (CDC). Following her time at the CDC, she took a position as a nurse practitioner at the Sweetser Behavioral Healthcare Center for at-risk youth. Chris was a lifelong advocate for reproductive healthcare and served as a Trustee for Planned Parenthood of Northern New England.
An avid tennis player, Chris also took an entrepreneurial leap into the tennis wear business, founding and operating a successful retail tennis/golf wear company for several years in Portland, Maine.
After retirement, Chris continued to give back to her community and worked part time as a nurse and swimming instructor at several summer camps and public and private schools in Maine and Massachusetts. After moving to Sarasota, FL with her husband, Michael Knupp, she volunteered as a nurse at the Senior Friendship Center and the Resurrection House. Chris also loved teaching children how to swim and was a swimming instructor at the Sarasota YMCA. She enjoyed living in The Landings where she played on the tennis travel team and served on the Landings Racquet Club Board of Directors. Chris was also an active member of the First Congregational United Church of Christ in Sarasota.
In addition to her many professional accomplishments, Chris was a dedicated mother to her children, John and Lindsay, and grandmother to her beloved grandchildren. She loved baking cookies and cakes, playing sports (swimming, tennis, golf, skiing and cycling) and puzzles and games of all sorts. She was also an accomplished knitter, and made many beautiful sweaters, scarves and mittens for her family and friends. As a teen, Chris learned how to sew and made many of her own clothes. Throughout her life she enjoyed sewing, embroidery and other crafts. She also played the piano and appreciated music and theater.
As a child, Chris especially enjoyed attending summer camp in New York State and recalled many fond memories of counselors, friends and activities from that time. In later summers, Chris loved spending time in the simplicity of nature on Sebago Lake in Maine, swimming, canoeing and relaxing with her family and her dogs.
Chris is predeceased by her parents, Dr. David Thurber and Mrs. Louise Passer, younger brother Dr. David Thurber and cousin, Mrs. Meredith Cushman.
She is survived by her husband Michael Knupp, daughter Lindsay Ervin (Drew Sharma), John Ervin (Loren), stepson Travis Knupp (Kristie), stepdaughter Emily Riordan (Tim), grandchildren Chloe Sharma, Cameron Sharma, Cole Knupp, Wyatt Knupp, Will Riordan, Ella Riordan and cousin, Judith Thurber.
At Chris’s request, no formal service is planned. Arrangements by Toale Brothers Funeral Home, Colonial Chapel, Sarasota, FL.