David Guilford (Gibby) Knauf died in the early morning hours of March 18 in Fairfield, Ida. The cause was stage four colon cancer.

David was born July 25, 1962 in Iowa City, Iowa to David Marvin Knauf and Agnes Jane (nee Thornton) Knauf. He spent his formative years in Amherst where his father was the head of the theatre department at the University of Massachusetts. He loved spending time on local area farms including the Waskiewicz Dairy Farm and the Bulll Hill Horse Farm.

His education included the Amherst public school system, and the Connecticut School of Diesel Technology. He went on to powerboat mechanic school in Miami, Fla. before returning to Amherst and apprenticing with Henry Wallace and Phil Shumway where he honed his carpentry skills.

He worked on multiple projects in the Pioneer Valley including many for the Matarazzo family. He moved to Martha’s Vineyard in the early 1990’s and established himself as a master of specialty concrete work. His accomplishments included multi-story concrete houses and creative adaptations to oceanside homes. Through friends who lived in Idaho, Gibby fell in love with the west. He purchased some unique property in the town of Fairfield in 2004. He continued to live and work on the Vineyard while spending any free time in Idaho, working on his goal of building his dream house in the foothills of the Sawtooth Mountains. Gibby touched many peoples’ lives and has left a trail of remembrances through his unique structures and dwellings found coast to coast. He is survived by his sons, Seasal Finn and Trewyn Christian of Bozeman, Mont. and his sisters Saragrace Knauf of Phoenix, Ariz. and Kimberlee Moretti of Cato, N.Y.

We would like to thank the Biedenbach family of Twin Falls, Ida. for their generosity and support in facilitating his hospice care location. A celebration of life will be held in both Fairfield, Ida. and on Martha’s Vineyard later this year.

In lieu of flowers please donate to The Saint Luke’s Mountain State Tumor Institute in Twin Falls Idaho or Martha’s Vineyard Hospital Infusion Clinic.