The deaths of two former Tidings' cartoonists within the past two years mark the close of a decades-long chapter in the archdiocesan newspaper's 113-year history.

From the 1940s into the 1980s, drawings by John Knudsen and Al Kaelin appeared with regularity in The Tidings. On May 19, Knudsen passed away, some two years after the April 13, 2006 passing of Kaelin. Their careers at The Tidings intersected, providing additional illumination of the world and the local Church during the post-World War II boom years of growth in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

For 22 years --- from the mid-'40s to the late '60s --- Al Kaelin drew his "Around Town" cartoon strip about the everyday foibles and frolics in the lives of ordinary people. He began his art teaching career at the old Mt. Carmel High School in Los Angeles and retired from the L.A. City schools in 1985 after teaching 43 years.

Kaelin had a prolific freelance art career, including his work for The Tidings and numerous political campaigns, teaching materials and advertisements. For 32 years, he did promotional art and signs for St. Andrew's Priory Fall Festival. He also designed the official archdiocesan poster commemorating Pope John Paul II's visit to Los Angeles in 1987.

According to Theresa Goldner, longtime employee in The Tidings' accounting department, Kaelin, a father of four, was "a very jovial person" who, along with his first wife, Marion, (who died in 2000) lived in a house in Ocean Park for a few summers and invited Tidings' staff for beach parties. He served as president of All Saints parish's Holy Name Society for 14 years until 1998.

Surviving family members include his second wife, Mary, (who married Kaelin in 2002); and sons, Dan and John, and daughter Julie. Kaelin's oldest son, Barney, died in October, 2005.

John James Knudsen grew up hunting, fishing and farming in Great Falls, Mont., the middle child of a Danish immigrant father and Irish immigrant mother. A Depression-era youngster, his family instilled in him a strong work ethic and appreciation for education.

After graduating from high school in Great Falls, he attended Woodbury College in Los Angeles, which offered an accelerated two-year bachelor's program in commercial art with classes offered eight hours a day for 48 weeks a year. Strapped for money, Knudsen worked graveyard shift at Lockheed Aircraft, bucking rivets during the last nine months of college.

Upon graduation from Woodbury, Knudsen went back to Montana intending to enlist in the Navy as a pilot trainee. Due to an enlarged heart muscle, the Navy rejected him. He then volunteered to be drafted in the Army.

He passed his Army physical --- he never mentioned his heart problem --- and went into the service at Ogden, Utah, eventually becoming an Army pilot. According to his family, his military service, which he described in a 2007 book, "Off I Went Into the Wild Blue Yonder," greatly influenced his religious faith which remained strong throughout his life.

After WWII, Knudsen moved to Los Angeles where he worked for an advertising agency and met his future wife, Mary Martin. He landed his next job in the editorial department of The Tidings, where he filled in as a photo retoucher, photographer, editorial cartoonist and, sometimes, writer. His cartoons were syndicated to the Catholic press. In 1969, Knudsen received the Freedoms Foundation Distinguished Service Award commemorating his 18 annual Freedoms Foundation awards received for his cartoons.

The father of eight children, Knudsen designed and built a house for his family in Whittier. The family moved to San Diego in 1971, where Knudsen drew editorial cartoons for The San Diego Union until 1977. He was an active parishioner at St. Mary Magdalene Church in San Diego as well as a member of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem.

He was 85 at the time of his death, due to bone cancer. Survivors include his wife; daughters Christine Knudsen of North Hollywood, Kathleen DeSantis of Fresno, Maureen Abrignani of Carlsbad, Eileen Landrum of Miami, Pauline Mulvey of San Diego, Patricia Knudsen of La Costa and Laureen Hopke of Escondido; a son, John James Knudsen Jr. of San Diego; and 12 grandchildren. Memorial donations may be made to Father Joe's St. Vincent de Paul Village, 3350 E St., San Diego, CA 92102.