Marion Knott Montapert

April 22, 1922 – November 13, 2014

Taken in 2012, during the Parks 60th anniversary of the Ghost  Town and Calico Railroad
Taken in 2012, during Knott’s 60th anniversary of Ghost Town and Calico Railroad

Marion Genevieve Knott was literally born into the amusement park business. As youngest daughter of Walter and Cordelia Knott, founders of Knott’s Berry Farm, Marion was the only one of the four Knott children to be born on the renowned berry farm which grew up to become the nation’s oldest theme park.

Marion was a real-life farmer’s daughter, who toiled long hours (along with her sisters Virginia and Toni, and brother, Russell) picking berries and waiting on tables when the family homestead was surrounded by a tiny berry farm with a tea room.

“With us there was never a question,” she recalled. “We worked [the farm] because we were needed. Even with everyone pitching in, we still had a tough time.”

“My mother built a tea-room onto the house and, using her wedding china, offered sandwiches, pie and coffee to the public. We put in five tables to seat 20 people. My sisters and I were the waitresses, and we were really grateful for every 10-cent tip that was left for us.”

With the success of her mother’s chicken dinners, introduced in 1934, and her father’s famous boysenberry, Walter and Cordelia’s little farm grew in popularity. As Marion explained, “My father felt something must be done to entertain the guests, to keep them occupied while they waited their turn [to be seated at the Chicken Dinner Restaurant]. His grandmother had come to California in a covered wagon at the age of 3, and he’d been raised on stories of settling in the Old West. So, quite naturally, he reached into his past to entertain others.

He built a Ghost Town, starting with an old-fashioned hotel, and inside he put a panorama of his mother’s covered wagon era. He gave the entire project a lovely atmosphere of nostalgia, and it drew even bigger crowds than before. He dreamed up more entertainment, dining rooms were added, and then gift shops.”

The farm’s signature jams and jellies were packaged and sent all over the country spreading the popularity of Knott’s Berry Farm even farther.

With her many years on the family berry farm, Marion watched as it grew into a popular local attraction, but sought her own path as a student at the University of Southern California. She left in her junior year to wed her college sweetheart, Dwight “Andy” Anderson. After WWII, Marion brought her interest in the fashion industry back to Knott’s Berry Farm by opening a boutique of her own with her sister Toni and moved to the city of La Habra.

Knott’s Berry Farm continued to evolve from a family farm to a roadside amusement and into a full-fledged theme park. Marion knew “By the mid-1960s the Farm had become a large business, but it was still being run like a simple country store. We were hand-writing our checks, hand-posting items in ledgers. We were antiquated in so many ways.”

“Modern business takes for granted that you borrow in order to expand. But my folks never borrowed, never sold stock. They refused to buy anything they couldn’t pay for immediately. All this rubbed off on me… My awakening began in 1967. I was appointed to the Orange County grand jury and assigned to the audit committee. I spent a year on the grand jury, and it really opened my eyes to the sophisticated world of business. I mean, I became aware there were actually very advanced systems of accounting, budgeting, planning, credit, auditing. To a simple country girl it was a humbling experience.”

“At the end of my year on the grand jury I went to a family meeting. I told them what I’d seen and learned. They were surprised and they agreed we had to change our country ways. We hired a large accounting firm and began turning ourselves into a modern business. The total experience gave me self-confidence.”

As their parents aged, the Knott children and grandchildren headed various management positions with Marion leading as the director of design, planning, and entertainment. Her attentions focused more and more on the amusement aspects of the Farm and, under her direction, a new themed area, Fiesta Village, was added to the growing Ghost Town in 1969. In 1974, sensing the public’s growing desire for bigger and faster thrills, she began shopping for the world’s most unusual thrill rides and gave the world its first Corkscrew roller coaster and later a 20-story Sky Jump. A subsequent revamping of Fiesta Village in 1978 added the ultimate shuttle loop ride, Montezooma’s Revenge to Knott’s array of thrill rides.

Marion and Virginia Knott with Charles Schulz: Taken in 1983, during the construction of Camp Snoopy
Marion and Virginia Knott with Charles Schulz: Taken in 1983, during the construction of Camp Snoopy

Of Knott’s she says, “We’re different from Disneyland or any of the other theme parks. While those other parks are based on a fantasy or future theme, we’re based on nostalgia, on history.” Marion was a stickler for following the Farm’s nostalgia rule, was proud of the park’s penchant for detail and noted that the rides themselves are bound to the park by heritage. Knott’s 1881 locomotive, for example, was transported to Knott’s Ghost Town from Denver, Colorado and represents an original piece of American history saved by the Knott family.

As a woman and a leader, Marion had been quoted as saying “gender has nothing to do with capabilities.” Yet she admitted she was proud to be held up as an example “when it comes to opening doors to women in other areas.” Marion served as the first female director on the Board of Directors of the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA) and led the way for other working women. She was acutely aware of the need for role models for women and spoke frequently to women’s groups through the 1970s and ‘80s to encourage them “to reach for higher goals, to make them see that they are limited only by their own thinking.”

As a generous supporter of women, children and education, Marion’s philanthropy has helped many others within her community. Over the years, she has contributed to nonprofit groups such as Girls Inc. of Orange County, Goodwill of Orange County, and Think Together, Olive Crest homes for abused and abandoned children, among many others. She funded the Marion Knott Nursing Education Center at Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach and the 76,000-square-foot Marion Knott Studios to house the Chapman University Film and Media Arts School in the City of Orange.

Marion is survived by her husband of 35 years, Anthony Montapert, two children: a daughter, Diane, and a son Darrel Anderson (wife Marsha), who was an active partner in the growth of Knott’s Berry Farm. Marion found joy in her four grandchildren, Dwight (wife Roxanne), Daniel (wife Robin), Michael and Desire Anderson and her three great-grandchildren, Alexandria, Morgan and Samuel Anderson.

Services will be private. In Marion’s honor contributions can be made to any of the organizations named above.

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