George Max Knapp

Wellsville, NY - George Max Knapp, age 96, of the Fords Brook North Branch passed away on Saturday, May 7, 2016, at Jones Memorial Hospital. He was born on November 22, 1919 in Findlay Ohio to George Harrison and Lois May Stanton Knapp. On May 29, 1939 he married Virginia Ruth Baxter who predeceased him on February 10, 1998.

Max was a dairy farmer all of his life working in several towns until he purchased his own farm on Meservey Hill in Wellsville. He was involved in many organizations that pertained to farming, such as a member of the executive board of the County Extension Service; a director of Millport Milk Producers Cooperative at Syracuse; past committeeman and secretary and treasurer for the Artificial Breeders Association; a member and chairman of the G.L.F. Agway Committee; a member of the Allegany County Stabilization Committee and was on the high school agricultural Advisory Committee. Max felt that there should be a school board member from the outlying areas so he ran for a school board seat and won. He went on to serve the Wellsville School Board for many years and eventually he became president of the board. Max was an avid reader who had read every volume of the Book of Knowledge while attending a one room schoolhouse near Belmont. He loved to watch sports on TV, especially the New York Yankees, and enjoyed dancing. Max was a member of the Senior Sunshine Club and the Riverside Assembly of God Church of Wellsville.

Survivors include two sons, Jerry (Deloris) Knapp of Wellsville and Stephen Knapp of Surprise, AZ.; two daughters, Judith Marie Mellor of Sun City Center, FL., and Kathryn (John) Trisket of Ashville; 11 grandchildren, 26 great grandchildren; several nieces and nephews; longtime friend and dancing partner Joan Watson.

Max was predeceased by his parents; his wife Virginia Ruth; his grandson Mark E. Trisket; his two brothers, William and Karl Knapp; his five sisters, Margarite Putney, Mayra Bigelow, Jane Maxine Francisco, Dorothy Freed and Mary Jordan;

Friends are invited to call on Wednesday, May 11, from 2-4 and 7-9 pm at the Riverside Assembly of God Church on Riverside Drive. His funeral service will be held on Thursday in Church at 2 pm with Reverends John and Fred Francisco presiding. Burial will be in Forest Hills Cemetery and please consider memorial donations to the Riverside Assembly of God Church or to the Wellsville Volunteer Ambulance Corps or to the David A. Howe Library. To leave online condolences please visit www.embserfuneralhome.com.