Renee’ Marie Knutsen, a nine year resident of Oak Harbor, passed from her home surrounded by friends and family into the presence of her Saviour following an eight year struggle with breast cancer. Born in Huntsville, Alabama on June 21, 1958, she gained an interest in and love for working with handicapped children while observing the work of her paternal grandmother, Melba Hill. She gained additional skills through her own work in summer camps, providing adaptive recreation and physical education for mentally and physically handicapped youth.

Also, as a young girl her mother noted her likeness to the “Energizer Bunny,” and enrolled her in gymnastics and ballet classes. This proved to be a wise investment as she went on to attend the Mississippi University for Women on a full scholarship in gymnastics and earned a degree in special education and learning disabilities.

After working as a teacher for several years, she met and married Robert Knutsen and assumed the role of military wife and volunteer for numerous organizations and ministries in each new community the Navy sent the family to.

After becoming a mother she also became a home-school teacher. She excelled in giving her three sons a strong foundation, first in Biblical values and then in reading, writing and mathematics. She enthusiastically participated in home school co-op activities, numerous field trips and special projects and in learning and relearning more advanced topics along with the children.

In Oak Harbor she actively served in several roles at Family Bible Church, including three yearly mission trips with Northwest Medical Teams to Oaxaca, Mexico with Dr. Larry Hartman. She also served the community through Meals on Wheels, the Crisis Pregnancy Center, the Lord’s Garden and Boy Scouts of America.

A Godly woman, loving and devoted wife and mother and faithful friend, she will be missed by her husband Bob, sons Daniel, Joseph and Jessie, all of Oak Harbor, her parents Myles and Lorraine Standish of Lillian, Alabama and hundreds of friends, both locally and across the country.

Funeral services for Renee’ Knutsen will be held Saturday, July 8 at 2 p.m. at Family Bible Church, Oak Harbor with Pastors Ron Lawler and Ron Willis officiating. Graveside services will follow at Maple Leaf Cemetery with a reception for family and friends to follow at the church. Memorials may be made to the American Cancer Society of Washington State, Crisis Pregnancy Care Center of Oak Harbor or to any children’s charity program. Funeral arrangements are entrusted to Burley Funeral Chapel, Oak Harbor.