Mabel “Mae” Kniskern 99 passed away Thursday May 8, 2014 surrounded by those she loved and her care team at Brookside Manor in Hood River, Oregon. Mae was born February 24, 1915 in Lesterville, South Dakota to Charles C. and Josephine (Stibral) Freidel. She was one of eight children living on the farm near Yankton, South Dakota and attended a one-room schoolhouse until she graduated from the eigth grade. In 1933, at the age of eighteen, she left the farm and moved to Omaha, Nebraska where she opened her own beauty shop. In 1940 she married James F. Burns and two years later a son, Jerry was born.

In 1944 the family moved to Santa Monica, California where a second son, Tom, was born, and Jim assembled airplanes for Douglas Aircraft during WWII. After the war, Jim worked for Edgemar Dairy in Venice, California until he had a heart attack. Mae took a day job as an electronics assembler at Hughes Aircraft, and Jim also began working for Hughes Aircraft as a supervisor on the night shift. In 1961 the family moved to Oceanside, California and Mae was hired by Kearfott, a company that built guidance systems for Polaris missiles. Jim passed away in 1965, and Mae continued to work at Kearfott where she was promoted to lead assembler on the guidance system for the Atlas rockets used in NASA moon landings.

In 1978 she met and married Nick Kniskern. They both retired and moved to Hood River in 1980. They bought a home near Hanel’s Lumber Mill on Hwy 35 where they lived until Nick’s death in 1989. Mae moved to her home on Avalon Drive in Hood River. Her favorite activities were Big Bingo at Hood River Adult Center, counted cross-stitch and other knitting projects. Whenever someone would treat Mae kindly, she would go home and retrieve a set of hand-knit washcloths, then return and give them to the person who was kind to her. She gave away many wash cloth sets because returning kindness was a way of life for her. She also dearly loved her dachshund Fritzie whom she called “my little apple-dumpling.”

Mae is survived by her sons, Gerald M. Burns (Rosalie) of Crescent City, California, and Thomas J. Burns (Pennie) of Hood River, grandson Mathew C. Burns (Marianne) and great-grandson Daniel C. Burns, both of Pleasanton, California. She was preceded in death by her brothers William, Charles, Emil, Edwin and Ruben Freidel, and her sisters Lillian Stepanek and Grace Jasa.

A service will be held Wednesday, May 14, at 1 p.m. at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Hood River followed by a reception at the church.

Arrangements are under the direction of Anderson's Tribute Center (Funerals • Receptions • Cremations) 1401 Belmont Avenue, Hood River, Oregon 97031. Please visit www.AndersonsTributeCenter.com to leave a note of condolence for family.