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McKees Rocks Remembers Catherine Baker Knoll

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Nov 13, 2008 10:59 pm US/Eastern

McKees Rocks Remembers Catherine Baker Knoll

MCKEES ROCKS (KDKA) ― Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll lived her entire life in McKees Rocks and the people there are remembering her as a maternal figure, looking out for everyone and never forgetting where she came from.

They are remembering her at the community center Knoll helped open in McKees Rocks. The man who sits in the chair her father once occupied, the mayor of McKees Rocks, says Knoll was a friend to everyone in town.

"No matter if you were a Republican, a Democrat, white, black, Catherine was concerned about the people of McKees Rocks," Mayor Jack Muhr said.

Knoll lived in a house on Chartiers Avenue – not far from the home she was born in. Her family was well-known for starting the now-closed Jenny Lee Bakery. Over at the local florist, her lifelong friend Dave Dietz says Knoll brought a sense of pride for the sometimes troubled community.

"They'd get the bad news, we'd have a shooting, a drug bust or whatever else would happen down here and we'd say, 'Yeah, but the lieutenant governor is from here.' And that was cool," Dietz said.

You'd often find Knoll at St. John of God Catholic Church attending mass and looking after the priest.

"She would bring us baked goods from Jenny Lee Bakery. She didn't think we ate very well so every so often she'd show up with a bag of full of groceries, vegetables, soup," said Father Lou Vallone said.

But it wasn't just the priest Knoll cared about. They say she was maternal to all of McKees Rocks. That's why they will miss her so much.

"There's an old phrase from scripture … 'There were giants in those days,'" says Father Vallone. "Catherine Baker Knoll was one of the giants in those days. I don't think we'll see her like again in a long while."

Funeral arrangements have been made for Lieutenant Governor Catherine Baker Knoll who died on Wednesday after a four-month battle with cancer.

Knoll's body will lie in repose first at the Capitol Rotunda in Harrisburg from Noon Friday, Nov. 21, until 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 22.

Then she will return to Pittsburgh to lie in repose at St. Paul Cathedral in Oakland on Sunday, Nov. 23, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Private funeral services and internment will happen on Tuesday, Nov. 25.

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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