Frances Camille Knoepker Bird passed away peacefully on September 19, 2024, in Lee’s Summit, Missouri, at the age of 95. Camille was born on July 3, 1929, in Memphis, Tennessee, to Francis Russell Lowry and Anne Elizabeth Tucker. The eldest of three sisters, she grew up in Kansas City, Missouri, and Memphis. Camille studied at Louisiana State University, where she was a music major and member of Pi Beta Phi sorority. Camille also attended Patricia Stevens Model and Talent Agency and modeled for Harzfelds Department Store in downtown Kansas City. One of her more unusual assignments was demonstrating a bed in a department store window!

While serving as an usher for the Miss Missouri beauty pageant, Camille met her first husband, Carl W. Knoepker, Jr., whom she married in 1950 in Cincinnati, Ohio. They raised their two sons, Chuck and John, in Independence, Missouri, where she worked at the family-owned Knoepker’s Department Store on the Independence Square. Always on the go, Camille raised money for charity as an active member of the Junior Service League, served as a docent at the Truman Presidential Library, and enjoyed summer weekends with friends at Lake Lotawana.

After Carl’s passing in 1980, Camille moved to Tucson, Arizona, with her second husband, Jack Bird, where they built their retirement home in SaddleBrooke, a Sonoran Desert resort community nestled in the Santa Catalina mountains just north of Tucson. Although Jack passed away shortly after their marriage, Camille loved the desert and remained in the SaddleBrooke community for almost 30 years, keeping active with tennis, golf, Ma Jong, bridge, and volunteer work.

Declining health prompted Camille to move back to the Kansas City area in 2017 to live with her son, Chuck. Her two sisters, Eleanor Lowry of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Marian (Mimi) Tatum of Mason, Ohio, preceded her in death. She is survived by her sons, Chuck (Winnie)of Lee’s Summit, Missouri, and John (Debra) of Phoenix, Arizona, and three grandchildren, Andrew, Katie, and Justin. Camille’s adventurous spirit, loving nature, and devotion to family will be greatly missed.

The family is planning a private celebration of her life.