Her death was national news, but who was Mary Knowlton in life?

Steven Knowlton still can’t believe he's speaking about his mother in the past tense.

Mary Knowlton was a force — a woman who exuded a radiant vitality that all but beamed from her, those who knew her say.

​ “She was that kind of a figure, she lit up a room," Steven, 51, said. He'd raced over from his home in Cocoa Beach when he got news of the shooting. His brother, Bill, 53, is in Minnesota.

Though a retired elementary school teacher and professional librarian, there was nothing mousy about their 73-year-old mom, a former homecoming queen who considered herself foremost a teacher, a mission she continued even after she stopped working.

"There's the image off a librarian being the quiet person behind a desk," said Katie Mazzi, one of Knowlton's dear friends. "But in Mary's view, a librarian is an educator. And that's what she is."

Mazzi is also having trouble not referring to Knowlton in the present tense. "She's just always going," she said. "A runner, a walker, a fitness buff. Just living a good, active life."

Her tremendous positive energy is what Punta Gorda Library Interim Director Bill MacDonald recalls first about Knowlton, multiyear president of the library's non-profit friends group and longtime co-editor of the group's newsletter, which won a statewide award for excellence on her watch.

That energy influenced any life it touched, Steven said, standing in the living room of his parent’s canal-front home in Punta Gorda Isles, where with tears and sometimes sobs, he described his mom as someone who lifted up everyone she met.

She'd been married more than 50 years to her 76-year-old CPA husband, Gary, who was there with her when she was shot.

“He was devastated,” their son said.

The couple moved to the neat, ranch home in 2001 from Prior Lake, Minnesota, where she'd been a teacher, and then a powerhouse school librarian.

She also occasionally substitute taught, sometimes at Steven's school. Though at the time, he wasn't necessarily thrilled to see his mom there, “I’d take that day back now,” he said.

Knowlton also was instrumental in building Prior Lake's library. "She was a lifetime member of their Friends of the Library," Mazzi said.

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With a bachelor's degree in education and a master's in library science, Knowlton remained active in various professional educators' and community groups. She supported the Crossroads Wilderness Institute for foster children, Mazzi said, and regularly cooked meals and baked cakes for the kids there.

It was Knowlton's gentle-but-firm persuasion that convinced Mazzi to accept the presidency of the library friends group, but then after talking the younger woman into it, Knowlton mentored her in the position.

"Without her tutelage, I would have floundered," Mazzi said.

She also modeled unfailing grace. "Mary could smile and walk away from any criticism. She was passionate (but) she was never mean-spirited, never catty ... She was honestly one of the kindest most decent human beings I have ever met," she said, voice breaking. "I knew I could always depend on her. You hear people talk about someone's word being their bond; hers really was."

Her appetite for learning and community involvement is what drew her and her husband to the Tuesday event, as well as a wish to show support for the police, her son said.

She'd take it upon herself to become the one-woman welcoming committee for anyone new in her neighborhood, Steven said. “She used to bake cookies and put them in the neighbor’s mailboxes.

Once, though, the family’s black Labrador discovered her cookie delivery in a neighbor's box and devoured them. “The neighbor called over and said, ‘Mary, I think you MIGHT have made me some cookies.'"

Deeply involved with her church, First United Methodist of Punta Gorda, Knowlton helped establish a library there.

“She was an incredible woman,” Steven said. “She taught us good principles, spiritual life and good Christian attitudes.”

He knows his mother would forgive the officer who accidentally shot her, and she'd expect him to do the same.

“She knew he didn’t mean to do it,” he said. “I know the officer didn’t mean for this to happen. I know he’s in his own hell.”

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“My mom taught me you can’t harbor resentment,” he said. “She’d be mad if I didn’t forgive.”

He just wishes his mother had gotten as much media attention in life as she's getting now in death.

“She’s a hero,” he said. “But it has killed our family. I don’t think I’ll ever get over it.”