USD professor Wayne Knutson dies at 89

Longtime Professor Emeritus Wayne S. “Doc” Knutson died late Monday at age 89. Knutson had a large influence on theater and the arts that spanned from USD to the Black Hills.

In a press release, Larry Schou, dean of USD’s College of Fine Arts, said Knutson helped build USD’s theater and English programs.

“Dr. Wayne Knutson was an amazing man, with many areas of interest and many talents,” Schou said. “He spent his career at USD helping build up the programs in theater, in English, at the Black Hills Playhouse (where USD students perform) and in the College of Fine Arts.”

Knutson taught and held multiple leadership roles at USD for the past 35 years. He entered Hospice Care in early November due to heart trouble.

In February, Knutson told the Vermillion Plain Talk that “he was in the final act of his life’s play but remained optimistic.”

“It all becomes a big story,” Knutson said. “Like any story, it has chapters. Grade school, high school, college, marriage, family, profession, and then you come to the final chapter of life. That’s where we’re at. You still don’t know how it’s going to end, like a good book. You don’t want to go to the last page to see how it ends, you’ll wait for it. Time is more precious, spouses become more important than ever. Friends from way back become important.”

Knutson said that he lived a good life.

“It’s been a very good trip from the time I was a first grader in a one-room rural school. I happen to think I had a marvelous life.”