Betty Knudsen

          Betty Jeanne Knudsen, 90, of Jackson, Nebraska, passed away Monday March 16, 2015 of natural causes at a Sioux City Hospital.          A celebration of life service will be 11:00 A.M. Thursday at Becker – Hunt Funeral Home with the Rev. Merrill Mueller officiating. Visitation with the family will be one hour prior to service time at the funeral home.           Betty was born March 5, 1925, at home, near Blyburg Lake, she was the daughter of a mason, Ed Earl Bobier, and a miner’s daughter, Susan Olena Buchanan. Elder sister to James Ed Bobier and Mary Sue Eggers, Betty, was a strong-willed child, who attended elementary school at what is now the O'Connor House Museum. Her childhood education extended beyond the classroom to the natural world where she enjoyed hunting game to provide food for the family near Homer, NE, a place she would cherish for the remainder of her life.                     Spirited, independent and highly-skilled, she could make a dress faster than going to the store to buy one, and, often prided herself as being one of the “hill folk.” After completing her education at Homer High School, Betty settled into a productive and adventurous marriage to Hans T. Knudsen who passed away in 1994. The two married in Kansas in 1942 and headed west. During World Word II, she worked as welder for Kaiser Shipyards. After the war ended, the two operated a repair shop in South Sioux City, and in 1967, they made their final move to a farmstead outside of Jackson, and established a popular and highly-regarded farming business called Knudsen Gardens, which produced what many considered the best sweet corn for miles around.           Betty is survived by two sons, Gary and Lloyd, and a daughter Barbara; her grandchildren Shelly, Tonya, Liberty, Justus, Pam, David, Carrie and Freddie; 14 great grandchildren and 8 great, great grandchildren, and her beloved pets Lacy, Rufus and Bug Eyes.