In Memory of Bri A. Knorr

A life to celebrate!

September 17, 1922 – April 6, 2020

Where to begin? Bri had such a remarkable and long life. She was born in Los Angeles, CA and died in New York City at the age of 97-1/2, having lived and traveled throughout the world. If you are reading this, you may be family, or a friend in one of the many places she resided - LA, DC, Cambridge (MA & England), Minneapolis, Copenhagen, Kyoto, Strasbourg, Santa Fe and NYC! Remembering Bri, there are many aspects of her extraordinary life which stand out…

One is that she had incredibly happy memories of growing up in Los Angeles. Her parent’s way of raising her she said was “benign neglect”, in a good way, and she was given great freedoms and trust. This sense of freedom and the beautiful wide open surroundings of California always infused where and how she lived her life. As a child, Bri enjoyed the thrill of rowing by herself at their cabin on Lake Sherwood, or disappearing on her bike for hours on end. She remembered daringly walking along the top of the narrow wooden fences in her neighborhood, and leading the boys on adventures, but said they couldn’t keep up with her. She had a great friendship with the boy next door who thought she should be an Olympic runner and would time her with a stopwatch. She often fondly recounted stories about his rabbit, Pinky, her wonderful dog, Rex, her aunt’s bird aviary and her own pet birds who nibbled on her books while she was reading.   

Bri was incredibly proud of her devoted mother, and her hardworking father. She loved being able to run over to her father’s bakery, the Wilshire Home Bakery, and dig into the jar of sprinkles any time. He made huge gingerbread cookies for her friends at Christmas, and lovingly made her beautiful wedding cake. She remembered how her father taught her to drive at at a very early age, and on the road would say “give ‘em hell Bertha”! Perhaps this is why she always found driving so exhilarating. She eventually got her father to agree, when he was a little “tipsy”, to changing her name to Bri (short for her nickname “Britannica”). She also loved and admired her beautiful and smart mother, whom she said was a wiz at Bridge and crossword puzzles among other things. Later Bri became a wiz at crosswords too and also became a stickler for proper English grammar. In fact, until the end of her life she was still correcting her children and grandchildren, no dangling participles allowed!

Bri’s educational experiences were extremely important to her.  She felt that she wasn’t a great student in lower school, but said that she worked hard and had a wonderful time. By the time Bri went on to LA City College, she was highly organized, and proud of her stellar grades, and of the fact that other students would borrow her perfect notes. While there, Bri was president of the Associated Women Students!  She went on to graduate from UCLA and later achieved her Masters in Social Work at Boston University. This led to another extremely fulfilling part of her life, which was her chosen career as a Social Worker. She often spoke of her challenging internship while at BU, counseling young women having children out of wedlock. She later loved working with families as a Psychiatric Social Worker, while raising her own family.

During her time at LA City College, Bri met her future husband when he sat down next to her at the local pool one day. She was tan, beautiful, exceptional and extremely smart. Things progressed quickly, and so began the next 40 remarkable years of her life. They were only 21 when they eloped, before their “official” wedding, in order to legally live together while he was in the Navy. From the start, they enjoyed dancing together, skating, camping, traveling and having good times with friends. At one point they lived above the famous old Chumley’s bar in NYC, how great was that?! They went on to live in Cambridge, MA, while getting their higher degrees, and meeting lifelong friends. Children soon followed and there, in 1951, Bri gave gave birth to their son. Then after spending a year in Cambridge, England, they moved and settled in to Minneapolis, where Bri gave birth to their daughter. Certainly an exciting life!

While raising a family in Minneapolis, Bri and her husband shared many passions - their two children, dancing, the arts, parties, enjoying time at the St. Croix River, hunting for antiques and mushrooms, traveling and living abroad, and finding and creating beautiful homes. They both cared immensely about every design detail, and each object or piece of art that filled their space. Bri had always had a keen eye and a natural artistic sense, and on top of that, she was beautiful, elegant and stylish herself!

Bri often said that as the youngest of four children, she received an abundance of love, and she in turn gave unconditional love to her own children. She let them follow their passions, patiently picked them up from lessons, helped with editing homework compositions, gave them birthday parties, and soothed any pain. Bri was a wonderful mother who offered her children gentle guidance without being forceful. Throughout their lives, she never stopped listening, understanding, caring deeply for their wellbeing and giving unconditional love. Later she was again filled with pride and joy when she had two wonderful grandchildren!

A new and courageous chapter of Bri’s life began after her children were grown, when she decided to move on her own to New Mexico in 1984. The mountains and beautiful wide open skies gave her a sense of freedom and reminded Bri of her wonderful childhood surroundings in California. She designed a magnificent little adobe house in Eldorado, near Santa Fe, where she lived and thrived for the next 20 years. With her fearless, adventurous spirit and love of nature, Bri embraced the sound of howling Coyotes outside her window, enjoyed her distance from neighboring houses, and even allowed the pack rat to build it’s home behind hers.  She happily pursued all of her passions - photography, jewelry making, bird watching and driving through New Mexico. Bri loved volunteering at the Children’s Museum (often as the snake handler) and at the Audubon Center, frequently joining their many “birdathons”.  The beautiful garden she created around her house (and everywhere she lived) was always a source of great pride. A favorite story of her bravery is when she saw a rattle snake in her garden one day. Soliciting her neighbor, they managed to get the snake into a tin milk crate, then drove it into the desert and courageously let it free. Forever after, they called themselves the “Western Women”!  One of the happiest and most rewarding parts of her years in Santa Fe was when she joined forces with her talented son. They formed a creative business to exhibit, sell and reproduce his artwork. They were both enjoying their collaboration and his great success, when he tragically died. It was an unimaginable and devastating loss for her and for the family, from which it was never possible to fully recover.

The years that followed are a tribute to Bri’s tremendous will, strength and resilience. She once again showed remarkable courage when in 2003 she decided to move to the East Coast at the age of 81. Starting over wasn’t easy, but she settled in to a charming apartment in Princeton, NJ. She exhibited her photographs, went on excursions and showed her visiting friends around the town. Frequent get-togethers with her daughter, and family helped to lift her spirits. A highlight was their trip to the Barnes Museum in Philadelphia for her 90th birthday! She was so appreciative. And, one of the many wonderful things about Bri is that she always expressed her gratitude for everything one did for her, no matter how big or small.

The time finally came for Bri to move into assisted living in NYC. Although reluctant at first, Bri was overjoyed to be situated right near Central Park. Her family loved taking her to her favorite Conservatory Garden there and seeing her face light up as they went along it’s beautiful paths. She always marveled at the park’s enormous old trees, leaned over to pet the dogs, joyfully watched the children play, and insisted on stopping to smell the flowers.

Bri was a rare and wonderfully spirited person, mother, grandmother, mother-in-law, daughter, wife, relative and friend. Her feistiness, sense of humor, strong will and resilience carried her gracefully over the many hurtles in life. She was “like a genie in bottle” she said, who just kept popping back up. Bri’s longevity can partly be attributed to her enjoyment of sweets, especially ginger cookies, which helped sustain her in her last days. And, Bri never stopped dreaming about what she would do next. She was still designing her new house, and we were talking about the orange tree she was going to plant. We would like to think that Bri is there now, comfortably sitting in the shade of her tree, and enjoying a ginger cookie.

With endless love for Bri, who will always be with us in spirit…