Dorothy Barbara (Lorenz) Knechtel of Burlington, previously of Baker City, Oregon, passed away on the 25th day of September 2024 after 97 years and nine months here on Earth. Dorothy, “Dot”, was born on 12 December 1926 to Leo Thomas Lorenz, a coalminer, and Barbara Prokupek, his wife who was an immigrant from Bohemia, in Castle Shannon, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She was the fourth of nine children.
Dorothy graduated with honors from Castle Shannon High School and left Pittsburgh to attend college education at Ohio’s Capital University. While attending college, she was courted by an US Army Air Corps soldier who she once told at the age of five she was going to marry. After her marriage to that same man, the start of a family took precedent and the family moved to Penn State near Chambersburg, PA, then to Alexandria, VA, on to Montana, and then Oregon. When the family moved to La Grande, she continued her education at Eastern Oregon University where she obtained a Bachelors of Science in Education. She went on to teach elementary school while moving with her family to various United States Forest Service locations. While in Bellingham, in 1964, she earned her Masters in Education from Western Washington University. When the family moved to Concrete, WA, she was employed as a kindergarten teacher with the Concrete Elementary School. She also substituted in the Prineville School District.
Her husband’s Forest Service career continued to take her and her family about the Pacific Northwest, ultimately ending in Baker City, OR. There she volunteered with the Baker Heritage Museum, participated in various civic activities, and actively supported the local library. Many a local, state, and federal official received detailed, researched, and impeccably hand typed letters from her about issues ranging from street improvements to foreign policy matters. Her role as an educator continued with each subsequent generation being encouraged to learn to read, to write (particularly letters to her), and to learn about the world around them. She donated time and money to similar endeavors, as well as the various veterans’ organizations in recognition of the service her brother, Leo, provided to the United States. He had lost his life in active service with the US Navy in the Pacific Theater during World War II. An avid seamstress and crafter, she had a natural ability, and delighted in, learning quilting, doll making, tole painting, stained glass, and many other crafts. An avid and voracious reader, she was a walking dictionary and until a month or two before her passing, easily completing crossword puzzles or solving Wheel of Fortune’s various puzzles. She was also an avid fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Jeopardy. To reiterate how long a life she lived, she was alive for seventeen presidents.
She leaves a legacy of learning, sharing, caring, loving, and doing. Further, as evidenced by the many family members below, she leaves a legacy that spans four generations. There is little hesitancy in noting that she will be terribly missed, long remembered, and well loved.
She was married to William Charles Knechtel on 1 September 1946 at Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Castle Shannon. They were together as husband and wife for nearly 62 years when he passed away in 2008. She is preceded in death by her husband, and her three children: Jon Byron (Barbara), William Craig (Deborah), and Janis Beth (Gordon).
She is preceded in death by her parents; her husband; her three children; her siblings, Ethel Willard, Leo Lorenz, Betty Huebner, Earl, Marian, Donald and Lyall Lorenz; her nephew, Donald Lorenz; her great, great grandson, Avery Fleck.
She is survived by her sister, Audrey Fiebiger; sister-in-law, Mary Lou Lorenz; daughter-in-law and incredible caretaker, Barbara Knechtel; daughter-in-law, Deborah Sprecher; nephews, Keith Knechtel, David and Dan Huebner; nieces, Diane (Heubner) Marcell, Karen (Knechtel) Gerry, Joy Ann (Jackson) Trainor.
Also surviving her are her grandchildren, William “Rod” Fleck, Jola (Knechtel) Barnett, Jennifer Fleck, Melissa (Knechtel) Koulisis, Janis (Knechtel) Allen, Monica (Knechtel) Soles, William “Conlan” Knechtel and Laurence “Tyson” Knechtel; greatgrandchildren, Anastasia (Fleck) Rigby, Emma-Grayce (Fleck) Qunneke, William Fleck; Jonathan, Adam, and Megan Barnett; Sierra, Joey, and Serenity Fleck; Allison (Byerley) Abbey, Alexandra, and Nicholas Koulisis; Samantha Otis, Abigail, and Christopher Allen; and, Nicholas, and Brayden Davis; finally, she is survived by her great, great grandchildren, Elaina Barnett, Evelyn Abbey, Xavier Fleck, Delta Rigby and Jakias Fleck.
She will be intered with her husband at the Green Hills Cemetery, Burlington by family with arrangements cared for by Lemley Chapel in Sedro-Woolley. Donations in lieu of flowers can be made in her memory to the Tri-Parish Food Bank in Burlington, Baker Heritage Museum, or the Disabled Veterans of America.
A Celebration of her Life will be held at a future date and notice of that event will be shared accordingly. Share your memories of Dorothy and sign the on-line guest register at www.lemleychapel.com.
