Christie Gutknecht

Christie Gutknecht, 57,

Minot, died on October

31, 2018 in the Hunting-

ton Beach, CA home of

her sister and brother-

in-law following a coura-

geous battle with ALS

(Lou Gehrig’s Disease).

Christie Maria was born

on June 17, 1961 in Minot

to Herman and Janet

(White) Scott. She was

raised and educated in

Minot and graduated from

Minot High School in

1978. Christie’s first job,

at the age of eleven years

old, was with the Minot

Daily News inserting ad-

vertisements into the

newspaper. When she was

sixteen years old, she was

employed as a waitress at

the Minot Elks Lodge for

two years. Then, she be-

gan employment at Target

where she started in the

snack bar and eventually

became the Women’s Ap-

parel Department

Manager. After seven

years with Target, she be-

came the Regional

Manager of 25 locations

for Petrie Stores Corpora-

tion. Eight years later, she

returned to Minot and be-

came employed in 1999

by a company that would

be sold twice and ulti-

mately become Cognizant

Technology Solutions in

2012. There she became

Operations Director of the

Americas until her illness

forced her retirement in

2016.

Following her return to

Minot, she met the love of

her life, Kevin Gutknecht.

They were married on

June 24, 1995 in Bethany

Lutheran Church. Togeth-er, they raised Kevin’s

children: Cody, Bryce and

Summer. Kevin died on

November 5, 2014.

Christie was a member

of Bethany Lutheran

Church and active in

community volunteering

including serving as Unit-

ed Way Chairperson for

Cognizant. Her hobbies

and special interests in-

cluded a great love of

pets. Christie had an in-

domitable spirit of good-

ness and good will toward

all. She treated everyone

with friendly engagement

and respect. It made her

an outstanding supervisor

in her career and very

loved in her personal life.

Christie’s loving family

includes her children:

Cody Gutknecht of Minot,

Bryce (Allie) Gutknecht of

Velva and Summer

Gutknecht of Moorhead;

grandchildren: Kayden,

Jersey, Berkley and Quin-

cy; siblings: Jacqueline

(Raymond) Ritacco of

Huntington Beach, CA

and Gregory (Peggy) Scott

of Aberdeen, SD; nieces:

Jeri Scott Schulze, Angela

Scott and Leah Terpstra;

nephews: Jason Scott, Jor-

dan Scott and Samuel

Cherewick and several

aunts, uncles and cousins.

Christie was preceded

in death by her parents,

husband and her paternal

uncles.

Visitation and Sharing

of Memories: November

15, 2018 from 6:00 p.m.

until 8:00 p.m. in Bethany

Lutheran Church – Minot.

Celebration of the Life

of Christie Gutknecht:

November 16, 2018 at

11:00 a.m. in Bethany

Lutheran Church – Minot.

Please wear a purple

item of clothing or bring a

purple item to the ser-

vices.

Those wishing to sign

the online memorial regis-

ter or share memories and

condolences are invited to

use the expressions of

sympathy section at

www.thomasfamily

funeralhome.com.