Richard "Dick" Spelman Knapp, Sr., age 72, passed away on April 25, 2015, at Duke Hospital in Durham, NC. Dick was born in Staten Island, New York on September 16, 1942 to Kate and Walter Knapp.
Dick led a successful career as a Planetarium Director, where his highest honors included training Gemini and Apollo astronauts to navigate using star patterns at the Morehead Planetarium in Chapel Hill, NC, and producing the first documentary film shot aboard a US space craft , "The Space Shuttle: An American Adventure", at the Russell C. Davis Planetarium in Jackson, MS. After he retired from this first career, Dick went to Concordia Seminary, Saint Louis and became a pastor in The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod. He served as the pastor of St. James Lutheran Church in Gonzales, LA from August 2003 to October 2009. He was pastoring this church when Hurricane Katrina hit and was instrumental in organizing food relief to the city of New Orleans. His final assignments were as the Intentional Interim Pastor at Ascension Lutheran Church in Casselberry, FL (May 2011 to June 2012), and Grace Lutheran Church in Key West, FL (October 2012 to March 2014).
He is survived by his wife of 51 years, Diana Barclay Knapp, his mother, Kate Spelman Knapp, his sister, Elizabeth Knapp Naone, his children, Kim (Vince) Tesoro, Carla (Gary) Campbell, Richard Knapp, Jr., Jennifer (Ernie) Tyska, Holly (Rob) Hogarth, and Peter Knapp, and his grandchildren, Richard Tramel, Gabrielle Tesoro, Grant Tesoro, Isabella Tesoro, Lee Campbell, Hayley (Campbell) Proctor, Amelia Knapp, Richard Salvatore Knapp, Brendan Kassler, Collin Hogarth, Trevor Hogarth, Liam Hogarth, and Darcy Hogarth.
He is preceded in death by his father, Walter Howard Knapp.
The Divine Service celebrating Dick's life will be held at 10 a.m., on Saturday, May 9, 2015, at Ascension Lutheran Church in Casselberry, Fl. Visitation will be from 5 to 7 p.m. on Friday, May 8, 2015, at the church. Interment will be at 2 p.m., on Saturday, May 9, 2015 at the Edgewater-New Smyrna Cemetery, Edgewater, Florida.
The family welcomes all memorials, but encourages friends to consider gifts of donation in honor of Dick to Ascension Lutheran Church, 351 Ascension Dr., Casselberry, Fl 32707, CaringBridge.org @ www.caringbridge.org/visit/dickknapp and the National Pancreatic Cancer Network at http://purplestride.kintera.org/raleighdurham/soli_deo_gloria . These institutions were important to him in his final days.