Resident of San Jose

Danielle Erin Knutson, age 35, of San Jose CA, passed away onDecember 6th, 2024 after athree and ahalf year bout with triple negative breast cancer. The illness may have taken her life, but she beat it by not letting it change who she was.

Danielle was born on May 9th, 1989 to Michael Richard Knutson and Tanya Michelle Paxton in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. After Danielle graduated from Roosevelt High School in 2007, she went on to study Political Science and Government at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion. She was a sister in the Alpha Xi Delta Epsilon Chapter and president of the Amnesty International Club.

Shortly after graduation she moved to Berkeley, CA doing work for AmeriCorp. After this experience she pivoted her career towards social work following her work at the Center for Justice and Accountability. She then lived briefly in North Carolina to attain a Masters of Social Work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

She then spent the following years dedicating her life and work to helping the homeless and veterans at various hospitals such as the Central Carolina Hospital, Veterans Affairs Hospital in Palo Alto and Durham, and the City of Berkeley, eventually attaining a LCSW and teaching courses at San Jose State.

In 2019, Danielle and Andrew fell in love after meeting on the dating app Bumble. They were engaged in March 2021 and married in Sioux Falls on October 2nd, 2022.

They lived together in San Jose, CA with their dog, Moira, and their cat, Griselda. After her cancer diagnosis in 2021, Danielle took time away from social work to focus on her cancer treatments. During these years she lived a full life. She thrived in passions such as teaching yoga, making macrame, watching lots of horror movies with Andrew, and cuddling her loyal dog. Dani and her husband had a podcast reviewing horror movies from a mental health perspective called Matron Saint of Nightmares.

She also contributed to a big cancer support group on TikTok by making videos and supporting other cancer patients.

Danielle is preceded in death by her father Michael Richard Knutson, her grandparents Richard and Mavis Jean Knutson and Uncle Bob Schoenwald.

She is survived by her husband Andrew Wang, her parents Tanya Knutson and stepfather Randy Davidson, sister Courtney Clifford (Greg), nieces and nephew Lecrecia, Lelani and Michael Clifford, her aunt Edie Schoenwald of Marion, cousins Echo Deelstra (Ross), and their children of Tea, SD, Rob Schoenwald (Kathy) of Sioux Falls and their children, her uncle Christopher Knutson of Sioux Falls, loving in-laws Anne, Ben, and Vincent Wang and many many dear friends.

Services will be held at Lima Family Santa Clara Mortuary on January 11th, 2025 starting at 12pm. Additionally another memorial will be held on January 18th at 2:00pm at Lincoln Hills Bible Church, 5401 Cliff Ave, Sioux Falls, SD.