Obituaries

Mr. Knight worked at the District-based hearing aid center for about 15 years before he bought it in 1975. He retired in 1990.

A native Washingtonian, Mr. Knight attended Western High School and played Boys Club football before enlisting in the Navy during World War II. He served stateside.

After the war, he married, moved to Northern Virginia and finished his high school degree. He worked as a dental technician before embarking upon a 30-year career of assisting the hearing-impaired.

Mr. Knight loved sports and, in his youth, collected autographs of several Baseball Hall of Fame players, including Walter Johnson of the old Washington Senators.

He also enjoyed politics, bowling and golf. Mr. Knight coached in the Vienna Little League and was president of the Vienna Babe Ruth League.

Survivors include his wife of 62 years, Betty Engel Knight of Leesburg; five children, Jeffrey E. Knight of Washington, Va., Jerome C. Knight of Folsom, Calif., Nancy K. Powell of Vienna, Richard L. Knight of Ashburn and Lina K. Edwards of Smithfield, Va.; a sister; a brother; 19 grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

-- Patricia Sullivan

Martha Acebo LordUSDA Administrative Assistant

Martha Acebo Lord, 94, an administrative assistant in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, died of a heart attack Dec. 1 at her home in Chevy Chase.

Mrs. Lord worked for the USDA from 1947 to 1979, starting in Mexico City with its program for controlling foot-and-mouth disease in cattle. She returned to Washington in 1953 and worked as a secretary in the office of the secretary of agriculture.

She worked first as a social secretary and became an expert on protocol. She planned receptions and filled in as the secretary's secretary when needed. The USDA Ag Reporter in 1955 described her as "jet-propelled, petite, vocal and volatile."

She traveled with the staff of Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz on a three-week worldwide trip in 1976, transcribing dictation at night so she could see the sights during the day.

After retirement, she resumed worldwide travel. She was a member of the Catholic Church of the Little Flower in Bethesda, a Bible study group and a regularly scheduled poker game.

She was born in El Paso, sold magazine subscriptions as a teenager and then worked for the Madera Lumber Co. in Chihuahua, Mexico, until it closed. She moved to Washington during World War II and worked for the U.S. Office of Censorship.

Her husband of 35 years, Durrell Lerock Lord, died in 1988.

Survivors include a daughter, Margaret Durrell Lord of Chevy Chase.

-- Patricia Sullivan