Forrest J. (Dust) Knull, 64, of Reedsburg, Wis., passed away Tuesday, May 9, 2023, following a courageous battle with brain cancer. Forrest was born Jan. 15, 1959, in Burlington, Wis., the youngest child of Don and Lois (Olson) Knull.
Forrest was a person of nicknames. His family nicknamed him “Frosty” in his younger years. Having outgrown the nickname “Frosty,” he was given the nickname “Dust” by his brother in the ‘70s. To this day, many knew him only as “Dust.”
Forrest’s family lived in the Lyons, Wis., area until moving to Union Center in 1971. Forrest graduated from Wonewoc Center High School in 1977, after which he joined his father at Knull’s Bookkeeping Service in Elroy. Forrest purchased the bookkeeping service from his father and later sold it to Filter CPA Office. In 2000, Forrest decided it was finally time for him to attend college and attended MATC in Madison, studying computer software. To no one’s surprise, he graduated with a 4.0 GPA.
Because of his love for his Disney vacations, after graduation, he decided to apply for the Disney College Program. Of course, he was accepted and headed to The Magic Kingdom to work. After a few weeks being a store clerk in Frontier Land, Disney saw that he would be a much better asset in their Money Room. Forrest decided to apply for a Disney Internship after the College Program and of course was accepted. This time, he worked in their employee deployment area. His time with Disney was cut short by a few weeks when he saw his house in Elroy on national news during the flood of 2008.
In the spring of 2009, Forrest joined Casa de Oakes as the finance officer, and in 2014, he wrote the SBA proposal for the new Assisted Living and Memory Care. Throughout the SBA process, he was praised for his meticulous financial thoroughness.
For years, Forrest bowled in the Reedsburg area but eventually gave that up to play volleyball with a group of good friends.
Forrest was diagnosed with a glioblastoma (brain tumor) in January 2022. He was fortunate to be able to take the already-planned cruise to Hawaii in May, and then visit Door County in August. Although both of these trips were exhausting for him, he thoroughly enjoyed being able to do them.
Dust prioritized his family and built strong relationships with his nieces and nephews. He was everyone’s favorite Uncle Dust. He was always game to go along on a family vacation, including destinations of Alaska, Canada, Hawaii, Yellowstone, the Caribbean and many trips to Disney. When he first met Allison (his oldest great niece) and was introduced as Great-Uncle Dust, he declared “that he thought he was always a Great Uncle,” and he was. And to show you how much the kids thought of him, his youngest Great-Nephew Owen’s first word was “Dust.”
Forrest was preceded in death by his father and mother and several aunts, uncles and cousins.
Forrest is survived by his brother, Dave (Becky) of Reedsburg, and his sister, Diane of Richland Center. He is further survived by his nephews, Erik (Tammy) Knull and Ben (Ann) Dorn, and his nieces, Amanda (Chad) Armstrong and Shannon (Tyler) Waiss, all of the Reedsburg area. He also was very fond of his great-nieces and great-nephews, Allison, Blake, Aiden, Savannah, Riley and Owen. He is further survived by several aunts and uncles, cousins and many special friends.
Dust did not want a formal funeral, so per his wishes, a private family funeral will be held, with a celebration of life from 1–4 p.m. Saturday, June 24, at the Reedsburg Country Club.
The family would like to thank Agrace Hospice, specifically Karla and Karen. Also, a heartfelt thank you to Casa de Oakes Assisted Living staff for the excellent care that was given to Forrest. We understand that it has to be difficult caring for your coworker.
Please, your presence is the only thing that Dust would want. If you feel it necessary to do something monetary, he would prefer that you make a gift to the charity of your choice.
