Rachel Anice (Cockerham) Knapp

On Monday evening, August 15th, 2022, Rachel (Cockerham) Knapp slipped peacefully into heaven surrounded by her family after 92 years in this world. She was a loving wife, mother, grandmother and great grandmother who will be dearly missed by everyone who knew her. She loved people, art and entertaining and was a supportive, loving friend to many. She especially loved young people who seemed to sense her caring interest in them and their lives. Rachel loved to laugh and share stories with her family and friends. She remained curious and interested in everyone and everything to the end.

Although Rachel mainly grew up in Nampa, Idaho, she was born in Corning, California. Her parents moved to Nampa when she was a toddler. She attended the NNC teacher training grade school, the college junior high, the college high school and then also graduated from Northwest Nazarene College (now Northwest Nazarene University). Her mother, Ursula Cockerham, worked at NNC and her father, Clyde Cockerham, was a residential building contractor. He built many homes throughout the Nampa area. Rachel worked in NNC’s Registrar’s office while in college as an Art major and met her husband, Glenn Knapp, while attending NNC. They married in March of 1951 at the Franklin Road Nazarene church (later called Karcher church). They had an unusual double marriage ceremony with Rachel’s older sister, Esther (Cockerham) Muffet and her husband Lee Muffett.

After graduation from college, Rachel and Glenn moved to John Day, Oregon with their first daughter, Vicki, and founded the John Day Nazarene church. It is still a thriving congregation which has sent many students to attend NNU. While in John Day, they had their second daughter, Raynette. Three years later, the family moved to the San Jose area of California. While living there, they became active members of the Central Nazarene church. Glenn taught 4th, 5th and 6th grades in Cupertino and Rachel worked as a school secretary at Rogers Junior High. She earned her second degree in Secondary English Education at San Jose State College. She was an amazing hostess and loved to plan and coordinate banquets and other events for her church, family and friends. In San Jose, Glenn and Rachel welcomed their third daughter, Kay.

The family moved back to Nampa in 1972 when Rachel was hired as the Assistant Registrar at NNC where she worked for several years. In 1981, Rachel fulfilled a life-long dream of having her own business when she opened her Victorian gift shop, The House of Now & Then on 12th Avenue South in Nampa. After several years, she moved the business to Boise and renamed her shop Everything Nice. When her commercial space was no longer available in Boise, Rachel moved her shop back to Nampa and renamed her business The Victorian Shoppe. Rachel used her artistic skills to make beautiful floral arrangements using silk and dried flowers for weddings, Parade of Homes and other special occasions. Rachel retired in 2006 saying goodbye to her beloved customers and the opportunity to have the gift shop as a platform to share with people the story of her personal relationship with our Lord Jesus and His transforming love.

In retirement, Rachel and Glenn continued to be active in the Bethel Nazarene church where they attended services and events such as 50-Up, Christian concerts and missionary reports. Rachel loved to   

socialize and visit with friends when they would get together with others for special occasions. Since she and Glenn were both teachers, they had tutoring opportunities with local students at times. Rachel loved her students. At 87 years of age, Rachel went back to NNU as an auditing student to study oil painting and one of her paintings was chosen to be in the juried art show that year which was quite an honor.

Rachel would have said her most important accomplishment was being a prayer warrior. She prayed for family members, neighbors, people at church, friends and other loved ones. She often had dreams that would give her insight into something that was going on with someone, so she knew how to best pray for them. She always had someone she especially had on her mind to take to the Lord Jesus in prayer.

It is important to note that Rachel and Glenn also have a son and daughter-in-law of the heart, Jerry and Eileen Shaffer and grandsons of the heart, Luke Shaffer and Jon Shaffer and his wife, Lisa and their family. They attended Jon and Lisa’s wedding in Charleston as Jon’s paternal grandparents of the heart and always viewed Jon and Lisa’s children as bonus great grandchildren. They often said they wanted a son. God gave them one in Jerry along with the blessing of his wonderful family.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Clyde and Ursula Cockerham, her sisters, Esther Muffett, and Lois Anderson, her brother, Clyde Cockerham, Jr. and her daughter, Kay Knapp. She is survived by her husband, Glenn Knapp and her daughters, Vicki Knapp, of Nampa, Idaho and Raynette Gunning and son-in-law Miles Gunning of Meridian, Idaho and her youngest sister, Grace Peirson of Port Townsend, Washington as well as her grandchildren, great grandchildren and nieces and nephews.

For those who would like to attend Rachel’s memorial service, it will be held at the Nampa Funeral Home, Yraguen Chapel, 415 12th Avenue S. in Nampa, Idaho on Saturday, September 10, 2022 at 2:00pm. In addition to flowers, donations can be made in Rachel’s name to the Water for Life charity, to the Jerusalem Prayer Team, to the Boise Rescue Mission and to the Nampa, Love, Inc, organization.

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