Betty L. Knecht, age 63, of Rogers, ND, (Formerly Oakes, ND) passed away after a very long and courageous battle with breast cancer on Saturday, July 6, 2013, while at Sanford Health Palliative Care Unit. Betty Lou Cowley was born on October 25, 1949 in Britton, SD, to George and Ruth Cowley. Betty grew up and attended the Engle Country School, until she attended Hecla High School where she graduated in 1967. Betty then moved to Aberdeen, SD where she worked for Northwestern Bell as a telephone operator until 1970. Shortly after high school Betty met the love of her life, Elmer J. Knecht Jr. (Butch). They were married on June 28, 1968. Butch and Betty started their life and family home on a farm near Guelph, ND. Betty helped work on the farm right alongside her husband Butch. They had three children, Corinna, Melissa and Curtis. In 1987, Betty took a job at Lincoln Oakes Nursery, and the family moved into Oakes, ND. Betty also worked many years for Schafer Seed, Alco, and PCI, all of Oakes. The summer of 2007 first brought exciting news the couple bought a lake home at Ashtabula. Then, in August 2007, Betty was diagnosed with stage 4 Breast Cancer, she underwent surgery at the University of Minnesota, in Minneaoplis, MN, where they told her family that she had only a few short months to live, and to "go home and enjoy her fall, because this Thanksgiving would be the last she would see."