Jamison Preston

September 15, 1948 - October 16, 2026

Age 78, of Philadelphia. She is survived by her immediate family: Davy Knittle, Ben Stanley and Adrien Stanley-Knittle, as well as her five siblings: Timothy, Thomas, L. Donald, Kelly and Jesse Swartz, and their spouses and families; her beloved cousins Eunice and Kit St. John; her former husband Charles Knittle; and many nieces, nephews, other relatives and lifelong friends.

Jamie was born in Buffalo, N.Y., on September 15th, 1948, and had lived in Philadelphia since 1981. As a child, she lived in and around Buffalo, as well as in McMinnville, Tenn., and Hauppauge, N.Y., where she attended high school. She graduated from Harpur College of Arts and Sciences at what is now Binghamton University, where she studied art history. She worked at The Evening Press in Binghamton and then at The Philadelphia Inquirer, where she was recognized as an editor, designer and technical innovator.

With characteristic bravery and adaptability, she left newspapers to study adult education at the Penn Graduate School of Education, where she earned a master’s degree in 1988. In her second career, she worked as a teacher and program administrator in adult literacy and job training organizations including the Center for Literacy, the Mayor’s Commission on Literacy, Metropolitan Career Center, District 1199C Training and Upgrading Fund and PathWaysPA. After she retired in 2012, she worked as an instructor at Community College of Philadelphia.

Jamie was a member of the Unitarian Society of Germantown, which she joined in 1999. Throughout her life, she enjoyed drawing, painting, knitting, board and card games, and the public life of Philadelphia. She especially loved introducing the city and its buses, trolleys, regional rail and public institutions to Davy when he was a child. As both a teacher and as a parent, she took great pride in helping others to surprise themselves with their own capacity. She loved the classroom especially for the way it made strangers into a community. A memorial service honoring Jamie’s life will be held in May 2027.