Madison Jolene Knight, 2005 - 2018

Madison Jolene Knight, 12, of Belmont, Massachusetts, passed away peacefully at her family home on February 15, 2018 from brain cancer. She was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on July 16, 2005 to Kurtis Lee and Jennifer Jolene Rockwood Knight.

Madi loved being with her family. She was a leader in the family, a devoted and kind sister to her siblings, and will be deeply missed by them. The highlight of her life was going on family trips with her aunts, uncles and cousins, visiting family in Utah, and attending “Cousin’s Camp” at her grandma’s home in Indiana every summer. She developed very strong eternal bonds with her cousins and other family members during these family vacations and spent hundreds of hours looking at scrapbooks about the family events.

Madison loved the Arts. She played piano, cello, and ukulele and had a beautiful singing voice. She played Princess Aurora in the town’s production of Sleeping Beauty and then Gabriella in their production of High School Musical.  She loved to sing at church and family events and talent shows.  Madi received her own sewing machine at an early age and loved to sew doll clothing, pillows and other creations as gifts for her friends and family.  She taught herself to knit and crochet and loved making scarves and other items for her dolls and beloved stuffed animals. She was also a talented artist, budding photographer, and a gifted writer and started writing and illustrating creative picture books at the age of 3.

Madi attended elementary school at the Mary Lee Burbank School, and was in the middle of her 7^th grade year at Chenery Middle School. She had a sharp intellect and received top grades in school. She had an inquiring and logical mind and loved to explore new things. Her favorite subject in school was Latin, and in her spare time, she was learning French and German online.

Madi was an avid reader. She would often devour one or two books a day.  She loved fantasy, especially the Land of Stories Series, anything by Gail Carson Levine, and of course, the Harry Potter Series (she read all 7 books before she completed second grade).  Harry Potter was by far her favorite series and she was completing the 13^th iteration of the audio books when she passed away.  She was an expert in Harry Potter trivia. Her dream was to visit Ollivander’s Wand Shop and have a wand choose her at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Universal Studios.  This dream came true when she was awarded a special trip by the Make-A-Wish foundation just a month before her death.

She was a devout member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and active in the youth (Young Women) program. She loved to perform family history work for her ancestors in the Boston Massachusetts Temple, attend weekly church youth activities, summer girl’s camp and was actively working on her Young Woman Personal Progress award, working toward achieving her Young Womanhood Medallion. She had very close friendships with the other young women in her ward as well as her close group of friends at school.

Her loss is felt deeply by all who knew her. Madi will be remembered lovingly for her many kindnesses, her loyalty to family and friends, her wonderful sense of humor and quick wit, her extraordinary intelligence, her beautiful singing voice, her deep spirituality, her constant desire to make correct choices, serve others and live her life as a true daughter of God, and especially her faith and devout love for her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

In addition to her parents, Madison is survived by four siblings, Maxwell, Rebecca, William, and Annabeth, grandparents, Kenneth and Shari Knight (Spanish Fork, Utah), grandmother Jolene Rockwood (Batesville, Indiana), step-grandfather D. Page Busken, (Cincinnati, Ohio); 21 aunts and uncles, and 35 cousins.  Her maternal grandfather, Frederick Rockwood and her brother Frederick Kenneth Knight preceded her in death.

A visitation will be held at the Larkin Mortuary, 260 East South Temple, Salt Lake City, Utah from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday, February 20, 2018. Funeral services will be held at 1pm on Wednesday, February 21, 2018 at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, at 125 N Sandrun Rd in Salt Lake City. Burial will be in the Rockwood family plot in the Salt Lake City Cemetery after the service on Wednesday.

A memorial service will also be held in the Boston area on Monday, February 26 at 7:00 p.m. at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at 65 Binney St, Cambridge, MA.  There will be a visitation before the service from 5- 6:45 p.m. in the same location. PLEASE NOTE: Limited parking is available at 65 Binney St. Addititonal parking available at 50 Binney St.

The family requests that in lieu of flowers, memorial donations be made, in honor of Madison Knight, to the Massachusetts General Hospital Division of Pediatric Oncology at https://giving.massgeneral.org/children/donate/, or to the Humanitarian Services Division of LDS Philanthropies, at https://www.ldsphilanthropies.org/humanitarian-services