Karolyne Reimet Knight died on March 5, 2026. She is survived by daughter Kristin E. White, son Francis Patrick White, sister Frances Knight Palmeri, niece Meta Esther Knight-Nzongola, and goddaughter Katherine Schmitt Root. Her marriage to Lt. Col. Joseph W. White II (USAF retired) ended in divorce.

In the 1950s she began her college education at Vassar College but she soon transferred to the Georgetown School of Foreign Service, where she was one of the first women to attend full-time. She left Georgetown to marry an aspiring USAF pilot and followed and supported him throughout his career, living throughout the United States and on Okinawa. Like other unsung military wives, she organized frequent household moves, reared children, maintained houses and cars, and regularly met the small and not-so-small emergencies that arose while her husband was away on months-long missions. Among military wives on Okinawa, she was known as the one who could do everything for her neighbors, from changing a fuse to handling family emergencies stateside. 

EDUCATION WAS KAROL's LODESTAR. In addition to stints teaching adult literacy in Omaha, ESL in San Antonio, and tutoring children in Rome, New York, her efforts to encourage and finance the college educations of young people continued literally to her last days. She had an especial respect and empathy for the challenges faced by immigrants.

She read voraciously and thoughtfully, and she loved travel, history, art, and film. Her children were taken to every museum within reach, a habit that became their own. She was an excellent cook, a sharp editor, and an expert sailor.

She had a gift for friendship: She was genuinely interested in people’s lives. Her friends spanned countries, ages, and circumstances. She frequently put people up in her home, including those she was helping through a rough patch.

She was a masterful — and ruthless — bridge player, but she also loved to teach bridge and Mah Jong. She had a very green thumb.

She was a newshound and an involved citizen. She loved The Washington Post — she mourned the recent changes — and for years she daily cut out and delivered articles of special interest to neighbors, friends and family. She was a devotee of “The PBS Newshour,” during which her friends knew not to call. NPR was the ambient sound of her life. She frequently called and wrote congressmen and others about issues she felt strongly about; she supported candidates throughout the US by both action and check; and she gave generously to the ACLU, NAACP, Southern Poverty Law Center, NPR, PBS, and The World Central Kitchen, among others.

She was beloved by those in her large apartment building, Parc East, and she loved them back. She was “Tia Karol,” stand-in grandmother, and babysitter for children of the building, and became a trusted adviser to many as they grew into adults. She was chauffeur for the car-less, the sick, and the elderly. She was a dedicated, hands-on member of the condominium board, successfully encouraging others to join. She had a bowl filled with the keys of those who trusted her. At every birthday and holiday — even the most innocuous — her apartment filled with vases of flowers, home-made food, and gifts from those who appreciated her. And she loved the massive roar of motorcycles each Memorial Day weekend as the US veterans in “Rolling Thunder” rode past on I-395 toward Washington, D.C.

Those who wish to honor Karol are encouraged to give to the organizations above that she supported, and in particular, to the World Central Kitchen (https://wck.org/donate/) She lived by these organization’s touchstones: Apathy is not an option, and every little bit helps.