KNOX— Joan A. Becker, a devoted mother who spent nearly all her life in the town of Knox, died on Sunday, Feb. 17, 2019, after a two-year battle with cancer.  She was 76.

Her son, Duane Becker, said she was a thoughtful and caring person.

“She would think of others first, then herself,” he said

Mrs. Becker was born in Summit, in Schoharie County, on March 23, 1942, the eldest child of Andrew and Dorothy Blyth. She later moved to Knox and attended Berne-Knox-Westerlo schools, said her son. This was where she met Ivan Becker as a young teenager. They were married in 1961, shortly after she graduated.

Mr. Becker got a job at the Albany County Department of Public Works, while Mrs. Becker worked as a secretary, said her son. After having her first child, her daughter Tracy, she became a stay-at-home mother, but eventually served in a maternal role for many years by watching others’ children and as a leader of her daughter’s Girl Scout Troop.

“They all loved her,” her son said of the children she watched. “She took care of them like they were her own children.”

Mrs. Becker also had a passion for painting ceramics, something she often did with her husband, who would fire up the kiln they eventually bought for their home and wire the ceramic lamps she painted, their son said. Mrs. Becker painted an assortment of items, including Christmas village figurines, cookie jars, and magnets, which she sold at craft fairs. She stopped doing this after her husband died from cancer in 2001, said their son.

She also enjoyed gardening, rotating different flowers for her flower beds. Her son recalls, as he was growing up, his parents tended a large vegetable garden.

Mrs. Becker loved her animals. When her children were young, they had a dog named Germ, said her son. After her husband died, Mrs. Becker took in two cats and a dog.

“She loved them, took care of them, and they gave her company,” he said.

In late 2017, Mrs. Becker was diagnosed with cancer, but remained positive, her family said in a tribute. After undergoing treatment in New Haven, Connecticut, and Albany, she continued treatment in Cincinnati, Ohio, where her son lives and works, until she died.

Mrs. Becker was a loving mother and dedicated her life to her family, her family wrote in their tribute.

“She was just very caring,” said her son. “She loved me and my sister more than anything in the world.”

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Joan A. Becker is survived by her son, Duane Becker, of Cincinnati, Ohio; and her daughter, Tracy Roades, of Gainesville, Virginia.

A service will be arranged at a later date.

Memorial contributions may be made to the American Cancer Society, Post Office Box 22478, Oklahoma City, OK 73123; to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Post Office Box 96929, Washington, D.C. 20090-6929; or to the Animal Shelter of Schoharie Valley, Post Office Box 40, Howes Cave, NY 12092.

— H. Rose Schneider