Karen Lynn Parsons was born Sept. 25, 1945, in Abbeville, La., to a Cajun mother and a Yankee father. At 19 and 22 with their first-born, they said years later that neither of them knew how to raise a baby. They need not have worried--Karen had it all under control.

She died Dec. 25, 2025, at 80 after grappling with Alzheimer's for nearly five years.

Karen had an eclectic life well-lived. For her 50th birthday in 1995, a friend gave her a surprise birthday party. With a basement full of friends, the CD belted out the perfect anthem, the Cyndi Lauper hit song, `Girls Just Want To Have Fun.'

Her first real job was de-tasseling corn with her high school classmates under a scorching summer sun in Marquette, Neb. She came home with a paycheck and a sunburn.

In her senior year of high school in Omaha she told--not asked--her parents that she wanted to get married after high school graduation, and she did a month before her 18th birthday.  That led her to an indoor job in an Omaha record store from which she occasionally would send the latest top 40 hits to her brother, including some 45s from a new band called the Beatles.

But it was her years yet to come with the Bell Telephone company that she made her mark and many friends, few if any of whom played bridge during Happy Hour. With stints in St. Louis and Dallas, she ascended to a management position, all without a minute in a college classroom. At 55, she retired and pursued one of her true passions--travel.

From snorkeling in Barbados to touring Tuscany in Italy, she reveled in seeing places she'd never seen. But as the true eclectic, she also was mesmerized by the Phantom of the Opera musical, which she saw in downtown Los Angeles. And as much as she liked the big cities like San Francisco and New York, she also marveled at the quiet of the California coastline from which she would silently watch 10- to 15-foot waves out in the ocean.  And when she had time--and she always had time--she explored a weakness for something perhaps even greater--walking into a consignment store. It was said she was incapable of passing by a store and not going in.

After her phone company years, she later created a personal freelance job in Denver for which she did home staging and interior decorating.  As that wound down, she decided in 2015 that she wanted to return to St. Louis where her daughter and grand-daughter lived and where she still had friends and where she lived until her death.

Twice married and divorced, Karen is survived by her daughter Michelle in Dardenne Prairie; her granddaughter Jessica in nearby Union; two brothers, Dana in Orange County, CA, and John in Omaha, NE and sister Nancy in Tucson, AZ. She also is survived by a niece and two nephews.

Services:  Service will be held at the FAMILY CENTER at SCHRADER Funeral Home and Crematory, 14960 Manchester Road at Holloway, Ballwin, Saturday, February 7, 2026 from 1:00 p.m. until 3:00 p.m. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Alzheimer's Association.  Friends may sign the family's on-line guestbook at Schrader.com.

Schrader Family Center is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81377500604