By Judy Clabes
NKyTribune editor
The contributions some people have made to the quality of life of our Northern Kentucky community just shouldn’t be forgotten. On a special list of those people would be Bob Knauf, as big-as-life a personality as anyone could ever have hoped to meet.
Knauf will be remembered this week for his contribution to Northern Kentucky’s music history when he is inducted posthumously into the Northern Kentucky Music Legends Hall of Fame. The ceremony will be held on June 13 at Tower Park in Fort Thomas, followed by a free concert by former and current inductees. Festivities will begin at 6 p.m. — and the public is invited. (See the NKyTribune tomorrow for story about the inductees.)
Bob Knauf is being remembered in another very special way by his youngest daughter, Nancy, who recently became Executive Director of the Friends of Music Hall. She has donated a wealth of her family’s papers and memorabilia about Bob Knauf to the Kenton County Public Library genealogy archives in honor of her father’s rich life and contributions to the Northern Kentucky community.
It’s a wonderful legacy indeed.
Robert “Bob” Knauf was born in Covington on August 12, 1924, to William Knauf, the Kenton County Jailer, and his wife Annabelle (Kuhn). He married Marguerite, the only daughter of Glenn O. Swing (a Covington schools superintendent for whom the Glenn O. Swing Elementary School is named) in 1947. They met at Holmes High School. Knauf died at age 81 in 2006, having led a productive and meaningful life — and making a notable difference in the community.
His life revolved around music. He was classically trained and served as a music teacher at Highlands High School for more than 25 years. He later became director of the department of music at Northern Kentucky University.
He was an outgoing, easy-to-know personality who was, at heart, an entertainer. He sang leading roles in operettas and light opera at the University of Kentucky in the 1960s (where he got his masters degree) and became choral director of the May Festival and the Cincinnati Choral and Orchestral Music Festival. In 1990, NKU’s music department instituted the annual Robert Knauf Scholarship in Voice.
His stint at NKU began when it was still a community college and lasted until 1990, when he retired as the school’s vice president for community relations. In that role, he was super-charged with community connectivity. In addition to a full book of NKU activities, he took on the chairmanship of the Spiral Spring Festival, which then was a week-long, massive series of community events — that seemed to involve every aspect of the community — leading up to the running of the then-named pre-Derby Spiral Stakes at Turfway Park (when the current Gaming and Racing facility was not even a wild dream). This was in the 1980s.
“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve met someone who wanted to share their Bob Knauf story with me,” said his daughter, Nancy. “He brought the joy of singing (well) to countless people in this region. He always had multiple jobs teaching choral music at church, at Highlands high school, the May Festival and more. He mentored many other music teachers, too.
“He was a genuinely good person with a nutty sense of humor. He was also a devoted and loving husband and father. Collaborating with the Kenton County Public Library to create a collection of photos, news articles and other items that document his life and career has been a wonderful way to share his legacy with the community and all those folks with Bob Knauf stories.”
Nancy Knauf’s Adventures in the Archives video about the Bob Knauf collection at the Kenton County Public Library
What a wonderful legacy Robert Knauf has left for vocalists and musicians in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. It is so nice to know this extra dimension our new FMH Executive Director, Nancy, brings to our organization. How wonderful!
Whenever I’ve thought of Bob Knauf I smile. He was truly a special person who made so many contributions to the community and especially the early years of now, NKU.
Mr. Knauf taught all the children in the three grade schools (I was at Samuel Woodfill.) and then taught them all at Highlands High School, 7-12th grades. We were all part of the chorus that sang with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra each year. The three years I was there (around 1955-57) we sang from the Polovtsian Dances, Porgy and Bess, and the Hallelujah Chorus. An incredible accomplishment, an indelible memory of a beloved man.