Julie and Steve and
families asked Gail to write Karen’s story for her memorial service, which was
held at the Senior Community where Karen had loved living for the last 7
years. She was in the thick of
events, many great gal friends and close to her kids and grand kids whom she loved dearly, what could be
getter.
Gail wrote:
Karen Lynn Dixon,
following a brief battle with pneumonia, passed away peacefully on Sunday,
November 24, 2013, just ten days after her 69th birthday. She had struggled with health issues
for many years, but stayed upbeat and positive to the very end. Her outgoing
and engaging personality made her beloved by everyone. She enjoyed living at the Gardens,
surrounded by friends and being involved in as many activities and social
events as possible.
Karen was born in Chicago,
IL on November 14, 1944, the younger daughter of William and Phyllis Kupfer.
Her older sister, Gail, was a frequent visitor in her years of retirement.
After early years spent in
Illinois and Iowa, Karen’s family moved to Fresno CA when she was six years
old. Her family was very active in
St. Paul’s Methodist Church. She
was active in the youth group and when she graduated from High School she
married her childhood sweetheart, John Black, whose father was the pastor of
the church.
Karen and John had a
daughter and a son, Julie Lynn and Steven Roy. They lived in Fresno, then in Modesto, CA, where Karen
earned an AA degree in accounting.
Although she spent many years working at various jobs in the financial
field, she always considered the raising of these two beautiful children to
happy and productive adulthood to be her greatest achievement.
In later years she was
also a stepmother to the children of the late Tom Dixon, of Fresno,
California. When Tom died, Karen
moved to Pleasanton to be near her children and grandchildren. During the last seven years, she
blossomed into what her cousin Joanell described as a ‘social butterfly’.
Before
her health began to fail, Karen loved to sew and made many beautiful dolls,
which she gave away to many delighted family members and co-workers over the
years.
Karen loved to read, to
work jigsaw puzzles and to play Farkle and Dominos with her friends every
afternoon. She enjoyed watching
movies and football with her friends on the big screen TV. She loved going out to lunch, even
though there were many foods she could no longer eat. And she loved the Summer Friday night musical evenings in
downtown Pleasanton. She was
always sad when the season was over.
Karen is survived by her
son, Steven Black and his wife, Joann and grandson Nicholas, of Pleasanton, CA;
her daughter Julie Marantan and her husband, Rodney and grandson Brandon of
Livermore, CA; her grandson Andrew Marantan of Cambridge, MA; and sister Gail
Lester and brother-in-law Dan, of St. George, UT.
Gail also wrote this note Karen’s
friends:
To The Farkle Gang, And
All The Rest, At The Gardens
I am sorry that I was not
able to attend the memorial service for Karen. Things don’t always work out the way we want them to. I am so thankful that I just spent time
helping her celebrate her birthday a little early.
I wanted to let each of
you know how much you all meant to Karen and how happy her time at The Gardens
has been. You all helped to make
her retirement years some of the happiest of her life. And I wanted to thank you all for
looking after her and helping her when she needed it. It meant a great deal to her to have such good friends.
I hope you will join her
family in celebrating her life.
Enjoy all the pictures and stories, all the different hairstyles and
fashion statements over the years.
The thing that struck me as we looked through the old photo albums was
the fact that my ‘baby sister’ was gone and she was always the one who
remembered stuff. Now there is no
one left who remembers how it was when we were kids. This is a hard reality to accept.
One of my husband’s
favorite songs is ‘If Tomorrow Never Comes’ by Garth Brooks. We remind each other of it all the
time, especially this past year.
If you don’t know it, look it up.
None of us is promised tomorrow.
Live in the moment. I
will remember all of you fondly.
Brandon, Julie, friend, Joanne, Steve, Rodney
2nd photo - Brandon, Julie and Rodney (Julie joined us for the reunion at Gails)
Karen's family are planning on joining us for the reunion -
I would love it if ya'all made comments - she loved her cousins too. j
