Patricia (Peach) Hall Knaut

Patricia (Peach) Hall Knaut made her way to heaven on the evening of Friday, August 30th, 2024. She is survived by her son, Matthew Knaut, and her daughter, Christin (Jason) Marcks, who were close by her side during the last few days in her earthly body. Peach is also survived by her grandchildren, Maximus and Weston, sons of Christin and Jason. She is further survived by her sister Cathy Weeks and her two daughters, her brother-in-law Michael McCabe, and the daughter of Michael her late sister, Nanci McCabe.  She was also preceded in death by her brother, Walter Miranda.

Peach was born on June 21, 1957, to George and Carmelita Hall, completing their family of six. She grew up in Haskell, New Jersey with her older siblings Cathy, Walter and Nanci. Early on in life her sister Cathy nicknamed her Peacho, which was later shortened to Peach, remaining the unique name most people have known her by ever since. She would often say with a big smile that peach was her “favorite fruit of the spirit”!  Loved ones describe Peach as having had a fun-loving personality, and brought her sense of humor and spirit of playfulness wherever she went.

As a child, Peach attended a Catholic school, and contemplated becoming a sister at one point. God had other plans though! In 1976, Peach got married and before long, her daughter Christin made her way into this world at Butterworth Hospital. Thirteen months later, son Matthew arrived at Butterworth as well. The family resided in the Cascade area of Grand Rapids, Michigan for most of the marriage.

Peach embraced motherhood, and went to great lengths to help her kiddos thrive.  She was beyond supportive of their interests, especially encouraging Christi (as she called her daughter) to hone her artistic abilities, which she certainly got from her mom.  Peach made the most phenomenal handmade Halloween costumes, and contributed to activities and events with other crafty offerings.  For Matthew, Peach was instrumental in her son’s development of his musical ability, supporting his musical roots with trombone, then later guitar.  Peach played guitar as well, and regularly played at DeColores retreats and other areas of DeColores ministries for many years.

Peach served in a variety of additional ministries throughout her years in the Grand Rapids area. She was part of a team of people who helped provide rides to bar patrons who were unable to safely drive themselves home. She showed endless love to single moms who were struggling with navigating motherhood while they were often basically big kids themselves. Peach was always writing things down in an effort to capture inspiration from above. She focused her writings on how to save marriages and inform leaders of insight she received from God, always with the goal of creating a more loving, Jesus-centered world. Her children are her living testaments of who she was, with each (Mathew and Christi) serving others in their own ways. 

To this day, Peach’s grandsons, Maximus and Weston, directly benefit the most from Peach’s love as a mother. Peach demonstrated sacrificial love to Christi and Matthew throughout their childhood and adult years.  Birthday celebrations, fun at Halloween time, adventures of all sorts are just some of the playful ways Christi loves her children the way Peach loved her children.

Beyond being a loving mom and servant for Christ, Peach pursued higher education once her kids were well into elementary school. In 1995, she graduated from Western Michigan University with her Bachelor of Science where she majored in Occupational Therapy. Peach went on to serve adult patients of a variety of ages, but spoke most lovingly of her time serving older folks. It brought her immense joy to see her patients regain mobility in even the slightest ways at times. She would frequently shop at thrift stores such as Goodwill to secure inexpensive items to utilize as therapy tools.

While her children were young, Peach’s parents moved from New Jersey to Ada, Michigan. Many meals were shared at “Grandma & Grandpa’s” home, where Christi and Matthew spent countless weekends sleeping over, building forts in the backyard, learning how to play billiards and chess, and looking the other way when Grandma tried to sneak an extra card while playing Gin Rummy. The breaks from the kids were surely appreciated, as Peach shared in more recent years that she would sometimes add Peach Schnapps to her orange juice in the morning when no one was looking! Aside from what amounted to a couple bottles of Schnapps over the years, wine at communion was just about the only adult beverage that touched her lips otherwise.

As the 1900’s came to an end, life began to look different for a newly single Peach. Having recently been born again with a believer’s baptism, Peach began focusing her efforts outside of work even more heavily in studying, worshiping and serving God however she could. To say she was a regular church-goer would be quite the understatement, especially through Peach’s final years on earth! Entering the new millennium, Calvary Church became her church home, following numerous years as a member at Cascade Christian Church, where her kids grew up learning about Jesus. At Calvary, Peach became active in singles ministries, which was possibly where the spark was ignited for helping save marriages. 

Loving the Lord and aiming to help struggling couples took on a whole new level for Peach when she enrolled in Grand Rapids Theological Seminary School in pursuit of a degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. She graduated in 2006 with her Master of Arts degree, and dove even deeper into God’s word, regularly sharing scripture and her perspective with family and friends. 

Around this time, Peach began plugging into another church where she may have developed her deepest ties in Christ through joining the Worship Team at ResLife Church in Grandville (formerly named Resurrection Life Church). Singing in the church choir became Peach’s biggest source of joy on earth as she often expressed that she felt closest to God while singing His praises. She adored the Worship Director, Pastor Ken Reynolds, who blessed Peach as a source of spiritual guidance and friendship in Christ until he made his way to heaven in 2021. Recognizing how deeply Peach cared about Pastor Ken and how close to God Peach felt while listening to worship music, her daughter made it a point to play worship tunes from ResLife for much of Peach’s final days. She made sure to include songs that featured Pastor Ken, and was even able to play ResLife’s most recently released worship album, “You Won For Me”, which included Peach herself!

An overwhelming love for Jesus permeated through Peach’s life, all the way through her final days. Each encounter was an opportunity to spread teachings from the Bible, and demonstrate her unyielding faithfulness and obedience to God. Eventually her health prevented her from worshiping on stage, though Peach maintained her faith through her pain and suffering, as she always had. Her final addition to her list of churches she had called home was Ada Bible Church, though she was known to pop into mass from time to time as well.

Above and beyond all else, Peach loved Jesus. She often spoke of her intimate relationship with Christ, and prayed for others, especially her children, to have the same level of intimacy that provided her with endless joy. This was evident by Peach’s “Jesus glow,” which radiated in all aspects of her life.

“But the fruit that the Spirit produces in a person’s life is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. There is no law against these kinds of things.” Galatians 5: 22-23 It is a commonly held belief that the greatest of these is love, or more specifically, agape love. Peach dedicated her life to developing and sharing all the fruits, though she quite often spoke of being filled with joy, and made every effort to replicate God’s unconditional love towards others. In the end, her favorite fruit of the spirit was not far off from peach, as it was peace that she experienced in her final days, together with her son and daughter.

Enjoy singing in heaven’s choir with Pastor Ken, Mom!

Peach’s family would like to thank the Palliative Care Staff at Butterworth Hospital for their kindness, compassion and attentive care during Peach’s final days on earth. 

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A Celebration of Life will be held on 10/7/24 at ResLife Church, 5100 Ivanrest Ave. SW, Grandville, MI 49418.  Peach’s children welcome everyone who knew their mom in any capacity to join them as they share a meal beginning at 5:00pm, with a casual service in honor of their mom beginning at 6:00pm.  Please enter through entrance C or J.  There will be signs in the parking lot directing you to the appropriate doors, and signs inside the church directing you to the room where the gathering will be held. 

Flowers can be sent to ResLife Church on 10/7/24 by 5:00pm.  

If you cannot attend Peach’s Celebration of Life and would like to share any memories with her family, you may leave a memory in the guest book.