Who is Carol Held Knight? All About Neil Armstrong's Second Wife

Publish date: 2024-05-18

Carol Held Knight is the second wife of Neil Armstrong, the celebrated American astronaut. She met Neil during a golf tournament in Cincinnati in 1992. They wedded two years later in 1994 and went on to enjoy over two decades of marriage until Armstrong’s death in 2012. 78 year-old Carol was born in 1945 and earns a living as a businesswoman.

Summary of Carol Held Knight’s Biography

Full Name: Carol Held Knight
Gender: Female
Date of Birth: 1945
Carol Held Knight’s Age: 78 years old
Ethnicity: White
Nationality: American
Sexual Orientation: Straight
Religion: Christianity
Marital Status: Widowed
Carol Held Knight’s Husband: Neil Armstrong (second husband) and Ralph Night (first husband)
Carol Held Knight’s Children: Two
Carol Held Knight’s Parents: Rosario Cota (mother) and Victor Held (mother)
Famous for: Being the widow of Neil Armstrong

How Old is Carol Held Knight?

Carol Held Knight is currently 78 years old, as she was born in 1945. Her country of birth is listed as the United States, though the exact place is unknown. Obviously an American by nationality, Carol comes from a White ethnic background.

She is the daughter of Victor Held, and her mum has been identified as Rosario Cota, though the details of their professional life are unknown. Nothing has been said about Carol’s siblings – it is unknown if she grew up as an only child or shared her childhood with siblings.

Another grey area in Carol’s formative years is her academic journey. The level she reached in education has never been disclosed, and the academic institutions she attended are not known.

What Does Neil Armstrong’s Second Wife Do for a Living?

What Carol Held Knight did for a living before meeting her first husband, Ralph Knight, is unknown. However, it is common knowledge that Ralph owned and managed a construction company in Cincinnati. Following his death, Carol single-handedly ran the roofing sheet business, and that was how she managed to cater for their children until she found love in the arms of Neil Armstrong.

How Did Neil Armstrong and Carol Held Knight Meet?

The first time that Carol crossed paths with Neil Armstrong was in 1992 when they were both invited to a golf tournament in a Cincinnati-based club. Dubbed the famous moonwalker, Armstrong is listed as an astronaut, space hero, US Navy aviator, astronautical engineer, and test pilot. At the time of their first meeting, Neil was still Janet Elizabeth Shearon’s husband, but their relationship was fast deteriorating.

When it was time for the pre-tournament breakfast, Carol Held Knight and Neil found themselves seated together. According to Carol, she was overwhelmed with the experience of sitting very close to a celebrity of Neil Armstrong’s caliber. Besides, he was invited to the occasion as a celebrity participant, which made Carol feel even more nervous. She actually thought that their sitting position was a mere coincidence but unbeknown to her, their mutual friends, Sally and Christiansen, pre-planned everything to see if they would take to each other, and it worked like magic. Paul and Sally later served as legal witnesses at Carol and Neil’s wedding.

While the golf tournament breakfast was going on, Carol couldn’t contribute much to their conversation and opted to go home early to her sick mother. Immediately she stood up, Neil, who was a true gentleman, offered to escort her to the car and got her contact.

Reportedly, the renowned astronaut put a call through to Carol Held Knight after a few weeks and asked what she was doing. On hearing that Carol was chopping down a tree, the true gentlemen drove down to her place to cut the tree down for Carol.

From that point, the duo started dating officially, and despite the 15-year age gap between them (Neil is the older one), their relationship was an enduring one.

She Became Neil Armstrong’s Wife In 1994

Two years after they met at the golf tournament, Neil and Carol went on to tie the connubial knot on the 2nd of June 1994. Then, the celebrated astronaut already concluded his divorce from his first wife, Janet.

The couple was joined in two ceremonies – the first one was said to be an intimate affair held in Carol’s home state, Ohio. A few days after that, they held a grand ceremony, inviting friends, family, and colleagues.

After they became man and wife, Neil and Carol Held Knight first settled down in California, where they lived for years.

They later moved to Indian Hill, Ohio, as Neil grew older. The celebrated astronaut was 83 when he eventually died on the 25th of August 2012. The cause of his death was listed as complications from a heart surgery done on the 7th of August 2012.

Following Neil’s demise, his family filed a lawsuit against the hospital that carried out the heart surgery. The charge was listed as medical malpractice, but Neil’s widow, Carol Held Knight, refused to get involved. According to Carol, her husband wouldn’t have supported that if he had been alive. Neil’s family got $6 million as a settlement at the end of the case.

In November 2014, Neil’s widow showed up at Purdue University (his alma mater), where she gifted Purdue Libraries his papers worth $3.4 million.

Carol Held Knight’s Previous Relationship

Neil Armstrong wasn’t Carol Held Knight’s first husband, She was previously married to an American businessman who was called Ralph Knight. The details of their wedding are not known (this may be because neither of them had celebrity status), but their union came to an end when Ralph lost his life in 1989.

Reportedly, Ralph was on board the ill-fated aircraft that crash-landed in Lantana, Florida, in 1989. Though he didn’t die on the spot, Carol’s first husband had an undiscovered blood clot that resulted in a stroke, claiming his life five days later.

She has Two Children

Though Carol Held Knight’s marriage to Neil Armstrong did not produce any children, she was already a mother of two before they met.

Through her first marriage to Ralph, she gave birth to two children – a boy and a girl called Molly and Andrew. Nothing is known about her kids, but she raised them as a single mother after their father’s death.

Where is Carol Held Knight Now?

Following the death of Neil Armstrong, Carol disappeared from the limelight, and to date, nothing has been heard about the late astronaut’s widow. It is unknown whether she got married for the third time, and nothing has been said about her current hookups and breakups. With that said, it is common knowledge that Carol still lives in their Indian Hill, Ohio home.

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