- Date Of Birth: September 14, 1920
- Date Of Death: May 5, 2018
- State: Michigan
Died Saturday morning May 5, 2018. Isabel Colthorp was born Sept. 14, 1920 in Breckenridge, Michigan, daughter of Orville and Laura Bess Watson Colthorp. She had one sister, Dorothy Jean Chicoine. Isabel grew up in Breckenridge and Saginaw, Michigan.
She graduated from Saginaw High, Bay City Jr. College, and the University of Michigan. She attended Columbia University and Eastern Michigan. Isabel worked in the Saginaw Public Libraries until her marriage to Alfred Karow on Sept. 11, 1948. She worked for the Kalamazoo Public Schools as a school librarian from 1966-1983. She earned her master’s degree in librarianship in 1976 from Western Michigan University.
Al and Isabel moved around until settling in Kalamazoo in 1957, where they stayed until moving to Portage in 1990. Isabel lived the past 3 years at Woodside at Friendship Village. Al and Isabel took the family on many vacations around the United States and a week or so up north at a cottage near Traverse City every summer. In later years they enjoyed going to Elderhostels. Isabel was a member of Greenwood Reformed Church and the U of M Alumnae Group.
She enjoyed reading-especially the newspaper, music, church activities, bridge clubs, knitting club, and shopping. She sang in school and church choirs for many years and played the piano. Isabel is survived by her children: Laura Leyanna, Richard Karow, Joseph (Violet) Karow, grandson Jason Leyanna, sister-in-law Christena Karow, nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her husband, Alfred Robert Karow.
