Apr 13, 2015 3 min read

The Rev. Harold Knappenberger Jr. has shaped his life philosophy around a quote by John Wesley – a fitting choice, considering he served as pastor of John Wesley United Methodist Church in Washington for eight years.

Knappenberger, 90, of Washington, paraphrased it simply: “Do all the good you can to all the people you can in all the places you can as long as you can.”

His fifty-plus years of service as a pastor, coupled with his travels abroad for missionary and peacekeeping missions, earned him the 2015 Human Rights Award. He will be honored by the Washington chapter of the NAACP during its annual banquet May 1 at the DoubleTree hotel in Meadow Lands.

Knappenberger, now retired, said he was grateful and humbled to receive the award.

“It’s been a privilege,” he said of his work. “I’ve served many people who have touched my life.”

In addition to the John Wesley church, from which he retired in 2013, he served as pastor at churches in 10 communities, including Houston and Mt. Lebanon. He is married to Elsie Knappenberger, and he has 12 children and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Knappenberger, who grew up in Warren, said his vocation is in his blood. He is a third-generation pastor whose grandfather, father, brother and a granddaughter have all served the church.

Harking back to his “younger days,” Knappenberger said he visited 33 countries as a representative of the Methodist Church. He was sent on a peace mission with a group of pastors to the former Soviet Union in the 1960s. He also went to Poland, Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic and Slovakia) and East Berlin.

“We felt the tension – the difference between the east and the west (of the Iron Curtain), but of course there were churches and Christians there too, even if they were oppressed,” he said. “In those days, the church of course was not at all respected very much, and anyone who was a Christian would pay the price.”

He also went to Cuba right before Fidel Castro took power.

“Everybody knew that Castro was coming, but of course what he was going to do was not known there,” he said.

Locally, Knappenberger was a 33rd-Degree Mason of the Scottish Rite Valley of Pittsburgh and previously served as president of the Highland Ridge Community Development Corp.

In addition to Knappenberger, NAACP official Carla Ivery will receive a unit service award during the banquet. Doris Carson Williams, president and chief executive officer of the African American Chamber of Commerce of Western Pennsylvania, will be the keynote speaker.

For tickets and more information on the event, call the NAACP office at 724-222-7820.