Betty Knotts

Betty A. Knotts, daughter of the late R. Frank and Evelyn M. (Bowers) Knotts, was born on February 26, 1928 in Shell Lake, Wisconsin, and departed this life on May 4, 2011 in the Rocky Ridge Nursing Home in Mansfield, Missouri, at 83 years of age.
Frank and Evelyn moved their family to Missouri, settling in the Owens Community in 1936.
Betty grew up and attended school in Wright County and graduated from Mtn. Grove High School in 1946. She later attended Teacher’s College in Springfield, Missouri that is now Missouri State University. She taught elementary school for two terms, one at Fairview School and one at Blanchard School. She worked at State of Missouri Department of Health and Welfare from 1950 to 1951.
Betty joined the United States Air Force in 1951 and served as a radio technician. She desired to be deployed overseas to England and unfortunately she was hit by a car while crossing a street in St. Louis, Missouri and was hospitalized for a short time. Her unit was deployed at this time and she never got to see England. She was honorably discharged on October 30, 1955. She later worked in the insurance field from 1955 to 1974. Betty then returned to Mtn. Grove to care for her mother, who had terminal cancer. She later worked for the Division of Family Services until her retirement in November of 1990.
In her spare time, she enjoyed reading and photography. Her greatest interest was recording Knotts family history. After she retired, she wrote and published a 492 page book of her genealogy.
Betty had suffered from the affects of Alzheimer’s for the last several years.
She was preceded in death by her father: Frank Knotts in July of 1950; her mother: Evelyn Knotts-Nettleton in October of 1974; a sister: Mary K. Rader in May of
1975; and by a brother: Paul F. Knotts in May of 2007.
She is survived by one brother: Robert F. Knotts and his wife, Margie, of Mtn. Grove; one sister-in-law: Pauline (Shannon) Knotts of Strafford, Missouri; seventeen nieces and nephews; many great-nieces and great-nephews; and a host of other relatives, friends, and neighbors who will miss her greatly.