- Date Of Birth: October 20, 1935
- Date Of Death: April 2, 2018
- State: Idaho
Karen Jean Rumpel passed away in the early morning hours of April 2, 2018 at Shoshone Medical Center. She was born on October 20, 1935 in Boise, Idaho to Ruth and Maurice Koontz and lived in Caldwell where she graduated from Caldwell High School in 1953. While at her first job after high school, Karen met her future husband, Don Rumpel. They moved to Nampa until Don was drafted into the army in October 1955 and sent to Germany. Karen followed him there in July where they lived in Karlsruhe, Germany for one year. After returning to Nampa, Karen became active in local civic activities including the Jayceettes before moving to Kellogg in 1964. Karen loved living in the mountains and found joy every day in the beauty around her home.
Karen raised three children Bruce (Susan), Scott (Ines) and Beth (Lyn). She instilled a strong ethic of community involvement in her children by being deeply committed to several community organizations including the Kellogg School Board, Boy Scouts, PEO, Santa’s Workshop and 20 years serving on the Youth Accountability Board. Her love of reading led her to serve as a librarian at the Kellogg Public Library for many years and she loved using her talent for sewing to make costumes for the Sixth Street Melodrama.
Karen was preceded in death by her parents and her brother Kendall. She is survived by her husband of 64 years, Don, her sister Judy Pederson (Bernie), her three children, her grandchildren Nicole, Triston and Cody and her two great-grandchildren, Trevor and Everett. Our sorrow at her passing cannot be expressed adequately by these short paragraphs; we will be speaking of it for the rest of our days.
