Betty Neff , 66, Minot and longtime Language Arts teacher at Minot Public Schools, died Sunday, January 20, 2019 in a Minneapolis hospital.

The person most qualified to write this is also the same person who said she would have this done so her children would not have to. Unfortunately, Betty isn't here to make corrections and changes. Her children ask that you refrain from judging based on any grammatical or content errors as they are aware that there may be many educators reading this.

Betty was born July, 28 1952 in Minot, the daughter of Dwight and Lyda (Busta) Miller. She was raised and educated in Minot, ND. She graduated from Minot High School in 1970. She started working on her goal of becoming an educator at MSU in 1970. Her love for education dates back to her childhood. One of her fondest memories was 'playing school' with her friends. Even then, she loved being the teacher. She earned her degree in education at MSU in 1974. This was just the start of her life's work.

In February of 1973 she met Tom. It was love at first sight and they realized they were truly meant to be together for the rest of their lives. Betty was united in marriage to Tom on June 28, 1974. Shortly after, she began her lifelong career of being an educator. Tom and Betty's goal to start a family began in 1981 with the birth of their son and in 1985 with the birth of their daughter.

Some of Betty's favorite things included weekends at Lake Metigoshe with her family, reading, gardening, book club, trips to Target, and music. Betty was a lover of the arts; all of them. She loved music and was quite musical herself. She also loved art and was a fantastic artist. She loved and appreciated dance, photography, etc.  She had a passion for all of the arts and thought they were all important, but above all, her favorite was books. One will never know how many books she read in her 66 years. She started reading at a very young age and did not stop; even with vision impairment, until her very last days. Betty loved her friends and was a very social person. She had many and was quite vocal about how important friends were in her life.

Family was everything to Betty. She lived for them. She enjoyed spending as much time as possible with the newest members of her family, her grandkids. Her children, Mike and Jenna, enjoyed many long, long...very long, meaningful talks about music, books, and television shows (there were sooooo many). On the more serious side, her children loved to talk with her about life, hardships, hobbies, obstacles, dumb things they've done (mostly Mike) and really just anything. Betty was her children's number one confidant. She was so full of life, wit, humor and sarcasm...so much sarcasm. Her love for grammar was even present during her final days when she corrected something her brilliant surgeon said to her.

Survivors include her husband, Tom; children, Mike (Kendra) Neff and their children, Liam and Lola, Minot, ND, and Jenna (Eric) Weppler and their children, Olivia and Jack, Fargo, ND; sisters, Anne (Blaine) Robertson, Bloomington, MN, Carol Miller, Burnsville, MN; and brother, Brian (Wendy) Miller, Savage, MN; and nine nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her father and mother, Dwight and Lyda Miller; sister, Barbara Pfister; brother, David Miller; and a niece.

A few things directly from the mouths of Olivia and Liam, the oldest two grandchildren: The first thing that came to their minds when asked what they remember about Grandma was snacks. She loved snacks. She took us to movies and shopping. She liked the mall. She loved the candy store. Sometimes, when we went to the mall, she'd take us to the candy store. Liam remembers sleepovers with grandma because she'd always have summer sausage and vanilla wafers waiting for him. Olivia remembers when they would make Magic Cookie Bars every time they would hang out and do puzzles with Grandma. Olivia's favorite nickname given by Grandma is Rackensnaffer. She was such a good grandma that she would even watch the Netflix movie 'Fred'. (You truly did put others before yourself, Mom.  Wow, "Fred"?) Both fondly remember back scratches from her. Liv loved it when she blow dried her hair for her.  The thing that Liv and Liam remember most is how much Betty loved them and how much they love her. She will be missed so much by the grandkids.

There aren't enough words in the dictionary to describe a beautiful and kind soul like Betty. I don't even think Betty herself could find the right words for this...or actually...she probably could. She is loved so much by so many and cared deeply for so many. She'll be missed by everyone terribly.

Keep on Truckin', Mom.

Funeral Service:  4:00 p.m. Tuesday, January 29, 2019 at First Lutheran Church, 120 Fifth Avenue N.W., Minot, ND.
Visitation one hour prior to the service at the church.
In lieu of flowers, memorials are preferred to Donate Life at www.donatelife.net or to the Minot Public Library.

Neff Flower Pictures