Local News

Bowling Icon Mary Knisley Passes Away at 100

Wed, 26 May 2021 12:38:57 CDT
Generations of bowlers in Hillsboro could count on seeing a familiar face, Mary Knisley, who teamed up with her husband Charles to open the bowling alley way back in 1948, has passed away at the age of 100. Last month, the bowling alley was no longer a Knisley Family property as family friend John Hapner of Centralia, a Hillsboro High School graduate who once worked at the bowling alley. The Knisley’s were determined to make bowling a fixture of life in Hillsboro. Just one year after opening the bowling alley at the current AJ Banners location, the business succumbed to fire but they opened the current building in 1950 and never looked back. The family business was sold in the mid 70’s to three Greenville men, but Gene Knisley brought it back into the family fold in 1994. He intended to convert it into a wood working shop, but plans to sell the lanes and equipment never gained traction so it remained a bowling alley. Mary Knisely worked at the bowling alley six days a week until it was shut down by Covid 19 in March of last year.