Long Valley Man, Coast Guard Grad Turns Personal Tragedy Into Triumph

LONG VALLEY, N.J. – To say Pat Knuth has overcome adversity would be akin to calling a Mt. Everest climb a good workout.

The Long Valley native, just 24-years-old, has suffered extreme loss and, more recently, incredible accomplishment.

At just 14, Knuth lost his older sister Brianne in a car crash. Eight years later, his mother Patricia succumbed to a lengthy battle with cancer.

Pat Knuth graduated West Morris Central in 2010 and went on to York College in Pennsylvania. He transferred to Rowan University and completed his degree in Law and Justice in 2014, with honors and as a member of two academic honors societies.

“I’ve always wanted to be in law enforcement,” Knuth said. “It’s something that has always interested me.”

After graduation, in his mother’s final months, Knuth took a step back and spent time with his family and considered his options.

“My mom was always strong,” he said. “She always told us to keep pushing forward no matter what was in front of us; to always keep fighting.”

After his mother’s passing in October of 2014, Knuth began the process to join the Coast Guard where he could continue his pursuit of law enforcement in a branch of the military.

Slightly more than a year later, in January of 2016, Knuth graduated the Coast Guard with an academic achievement award for top scores on both the midterm and final exams, distinguishing himself from the rest of his graduating class.

“I wanted to continue to make (my mom) proud,” Knuth said. “She was my driving force in this. I turned the tragedy of losing my sister and my mom into the driving force to accomplish this and continue on to do bigger and better things.”

Knuth’s uncle, his mother’s brother-in-law through marriage, was on hand to present the graduate his certificate. Knuth’s uncle, Mark Welsh, is the Chief of Staff for the United States Air Force.

“For (my uncle) to take time out of his incredibly busy schedule and come down to the graduation… it just made the situation that much better,” Knuth said.

So what’s next? Knuth will be stationed in Hawaii and is under contract with the Coast Guard for the next four years and hopes to enter the maritime law enforcement program after two years.

“I have a lot of options going forward,” he said.

If his future achievements are anything like his recent accomplishments, there will be plenty of reasons to make Brianne, Patricia, and the rest of his family proud.