Milton McKnight had every right to act as if he’d been dealt a really bad hand.
Born with cerebral palsy, in a wheelchair since age three, reliant on others to help him dress, use a restroom or bathe, he nonetheless found joy in every day of his life, which ended Aug. 29 at age 72, said his daughter Tamika McKnight.
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“He was always somehow a happy guy,” she said. “He taught us all about not giving up.”
For years, people in downtown Orlando knew McKnight best as the perpetually sunny guy in a motorized wheelchair selling roses for $2 a flower on South Orange Avenue, eager to chat about the weather, God, the Magic, politics. You pick a topic.
A “homegoing” memorial service for McKnight will be held Sunday presented by the Mount Zion Tabernacle Christian Church, where McKnight served as a deacon for 13 years.
“This brother loved God and he loved people,” said Mount Zion Pastor Stanley Murray, who is also the police chief in Eatonville. “I don’t think we ever had a conversation when he wasn’t grateful for being on this Earth. Despite his apparent disabilities, he always told me he was blessed.”
He wasn’t shy about reminding folks how blessed he was.
In 2012, when his sluggish, motorized wheelchair with bare tires and a control handle wrapped in plastic in case of rain finally conked out, people pitched in thousands to buy him a new one. Donations came from comedy club fundraisers; an Internet campaign; and fistfuls of dollars from downtown lawyers, beat cops and others who knew his smile.
The goal was $10,000. Organizers raised twice that.
His home in Parramore also was built with donated money, land, lumber and thoughtful consideration.
Orlando police spearheaded the effort.
“Seeing the positive impact that Milton has had on downtown, we wanted to do something for him,” Sgt. Pete Gauntlett, head of the downtown patrol unit, told the Orlando Sentinel in 1993. “He is a hard worker and a family man. He is an inspiration.”
The new home had entryway ramps, light switches he could reach, windows low enough for him to look out and a shower wide enough to accommodate a wheelchair. A newspaper story proclaimed “gone will be the days of baths in the living room…”
At a dedication ceremony, then Orlando Mayor Glenda Hood presented a trembling and teary McKnight with two keys: one for the new three-bed, two-bath home a short jaunt from a bus stop on West Colonial Drive and the other to the city.
“There really are miracles,” McKnight said.
When news of his passing was shared on TV stations last week, dozens of tributes poured in on Facebook.
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Some suggested creating a downtown mural in his honor or a star on the sidewalk.
“He epitomized goodness in a harsh downtown world,” one person wrote.
His perseverance was infectious.
“You’d go by and maybe say, ‘Hi, how’s it going, Milton?’ ” recalled Jim Hobart, a photographer who became friends with McKnight decades ago. “He’d say something like, ‘Never been better or I’m blessed! Life is wonderful. God is great!’ or whatever his saying for the day was. And I’d walk by and think to myself, ‘Well, if that guy doesn’t have something to complain about then who the hell am I to complain about anything.”
With McKnight’s permission, Hobart years ago created a website to help people connect with him.
According to the website, McKnight was born in 1953 in south Philadelphia to a dad who worked construction and a stay-at-home mom. He was diagnosed with spastic cerebral palsy, a congenital, neurological condition that affects areas of the brain responsible for controlling muscle movement.
It is often marked by awkward and jerky movements that make it difficult to walk, and it can impair speech.
At age nine, he sold newspapers in a wheelchair on Philly streets.
Later, he earned a journalism degree from a community college.
In the summer of 1977, while going door-to-door distributing Jehovah’s Witness pamphlets, he met his future wife Dorothy. They married the following summer; had their first child, Tamika, in 1984; and four years later moved to Florida to escape the cold.
They divorced in 2004.
She preceded him in death. In addition to his daughter, he is also survived by a son, Milton McKnight Jr.
Former Orlando Sentinel reporter Jon Busdeker wrote about the downtown community’s effort to raise money to buy McKnight a new power chair in 2012.
“All these people wanted to help,” he said. “Because Milton was always smiling, always just a really good guy.”
The service for McKnight will be at 3 p.m. at the First Orlando Church, 3000 South John Young Parkway, Orlando.
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