Remembering Bob Weir: Grateful Dead founding member once granted wish of California boy fighting leukemia

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — Joe Knudsen, 37, of La Quinta, shared his memories of meeting Grateful Dead founding member Bob Weir when he was seven years old and battling leukemia.

Knudsen said Weir, a legendary Bay Area native, granted Knudsen’s wish to meet him through the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

In a 1996 picture he shared with ABC7, Knudsen is posing with Weir.

Knudsen is bald, his hair gone from chemotherapy. But he has a smile on his face.

“I think it was pretty surreal for me,” said Knudsen, a self-proclaimed Deadhead. “Here’s this rock god.”

“Many children pick Disneyland, Hawaii, all different kinds of things, and his wish was Bob Weir,” said Knudsen’s mom, Catherine.

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Catherine said Weir visited the family at their home in the Palm Springs area. They played miniature golf, had fast food — because it was open and Joe requested it — and the next day, Weir and his future wife, Natascha, had breakfast with them at their home.

“I think we asked him about Woodstock and different gigs and stuff like that, different artists and stuff at the time, so that was the real unique part to me, was kind of getting something that no one else had,” Joe Knudsen said.

And a touching moment: Weir played the Beatles song “Blackbird” on a guitar for them.

“I don’t know why he chose that song,” Knudsen said. “It was definitely a fitting song for the time for me and my treatment going through chemo and everything, healing.”

And healing he is. Joe fought cancer for five years and has been in remission since.

MORE: Fans celebrate life of Grateful Dead co-founder, guitarist Bob Weir with musical tribute in SF

He and his mother still live in the Coachella Valley and were in the Bay Area on vacation.

They were saddened to hear about Weir’s passing but know they have that special memory forever.

“They gave us a lot of joy at a very sad time in our lives,” Catherine Knudsen said. “Even though Joe was the one that was sick, the gift was to all of us, not just to Joe.”

They are grateful for their time with the Grateful Dead legend.

A memorial is planned for Weir in the Bay Area on Saturday, January 17 at Civic Center Plaza in San Francisco.

The free public gathering will feature tributes to honor his life. There will be a procession down Market Street between 7th and 9th Streets starting at 12:30 p.m. Organizers are asking that the public RSVP.