 BARBARA KNIGHTEN Barbara J. Knighten, 85, of Las Vegas, passed away Sunday, July 29, 2012. She was born in Chelsea, Mass., and was brought up in Lynn, Mass., when at 19 she left and moved to Boston. She went to work as the state director of a liberal political organization called Americans for Democratic Action. While working for them, she participated in local and national campaigns, including the fight against McCarthyism. Several years later, she moved to Manhattan, N.Y., where she met and married Jack Jeffers. She continued to work for non-profit organizations such as Stryker's Bay, a renters advocacy organization in the urban renewal area. While working there she helped start the West Side Civil Rights Group, which fought for equal rights for all citizens. She was deeply committed to its cause and she participated in sit-ins and picket lines. Barbara created the first fair housing committee in the country. It was so successful it received national media attention. This caught the eye of the National Urban League, and they took on the idea and soon created fair housing committees all over the United States. Later, she moved to California and for many years was the comptroller for S & A Studios in Hollywood, Calif. She started doing income tax returns for some of the employees at the studio and when she retired she opened her own tax return practice. She moved to Las Vegas in 1994, with her late husband, Tuskegee Airman, Lt. Col. J. Bernard Knighten better known as the comic Jay Bernard. She helped form the Las Vegas Chapter of Tuskegee Airmen Incorporated and served as its president and representative to the national board. Barbara attended Pace University in New York City and attained an Accounting Degree. She has resided in Las Vegas since 1994. She is survived by her daughters, Laura Jeffers and Lee Jeffers Chaput; her two stepdaughters, Kim Knighten Russell and Linda Knighten; her sons-in-law, Wendell Russell and Michael Chaput; and two grandchildren, James David Knighten and Melissa Jeffers Chaput. Visitation will be 3-7 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 2, at Palm Mortuary, 1600 S. Jones, Las Vegas. Burial will be at 1:20 p.m., Friday, Aug. 3, at Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery 1900 Buchanan Blvd., Boulder City, NV 89005. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be sent to the Tuskegee Airmen Scholarship Fund, TAI, JB Knighten Chapter, P.O. Box 82144, Las Vegas, NV 89117.
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Arrangements under the direction of:
Palm South Jones-Funeral Home
1600 South Jones Blvd | Las Vegas, NV 89146 | (702) 464-8420
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Las Vegas, NV (702) 464-8420
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