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Newly retired music teacher Franklin Knight has reached another milestone in his life.
On Tuesday, Knight reached his 70-gallon mark as a donor for Florida Blood Services.
Knight, 63, is the youngest of the top four donors in the Florida Blood Services database who have the highest numbers of donations. "Frank has touched the lives of hundreds, if not thousands, of patients and their families," said Daniel J. Eberts, director of marketing and communications.
Knight retired two weeks ago from the Pinellas County Center for the Arts at Gibbs High School, where he taught music theory for 19 years. He taught music in the Pinellas County School District for 38 years and was the founding music conductor of the Arts Center Chamber Players.
Knight donated his first pint of whole blood as an undergraduate student at Florida State University in 1959. He was 19.
"It was a tremendous feeling, the feeling that I have done something that is significant in maintaining human life," Knight said. "I think that stayed with me ever since."
Knight began donating platelets in 1979 and has been consistent with his donations for the past 18 years. He visits the 10100 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. St. N office every two weeks for apheresis, the process of removing a specific component of the blood (platelets) and returning the main components (red blood cells and plasma) to the donor.