Commentary
DUNDALK, Maryland—To understand television host Mike Rowe, consider his grandfather.
In the undated photo of Carl Milton Knobel, he is standing in what appears to be his backyard. Dressed in a dapper suit and wool overcoat, he is looking at whoever is holding the camera with affection. Everything about him emotes dignity and grace but also joy and anticipation, as if someone knew this was the moment to capture all of who he was, for posterity’s sake.
Knobel was a father of two daughters, the grandfather of five grandsons and the great-grandfather of four when he passed in 2003 at the age of 91. As a young man, he had been an estimator at the Washington Navy Yard and then ran an electrical contracting business. When he retired as an investigator for the Baltimore County Electrical Administrative Board, county officials declared it Carl Milton Knobel Day in his honor….