Karen Sue Witherspoon was born on November 20, 1950 to Tommy and Katie Witherspoon and departed this life on November 12, 2021.

Karen graduated from Hillcrest High School and attended SMS before becoming an abstractor for Lincoln Abstract.  In 1980, she and her family opened Town and Country Flowers and Collectibles, working there as a floral designer and delivery coordinator extraordinaire until they retired in 2012.

Her life was full of adventure, friends, fine entertaining, and cooking and advising her sister when she could no longer cook.  Her passion was reading, loved being surrounded by beautiful, meaningful things, flowers, plants, and feeding and watching the birds.

Karen was preceded in death by her mom and dad; brother, John; brother-in-law, Bill; and dear friend, Larry.

She is survived by her sister, Linda; sister-in-law, Fran; dear friend and caregiver, Andress and her little dog, Phoenix, who have helped make the last 10 years of her life more bearable; and so many life-long friends.

Per the wishes of Karen, there will be no services.  Online condolences may be left at gormanscharpf.com.  There will be a celebration of life at a later date.  In the meantime, today on her birthday, raise a toast to her, call a friend, hug a loved one, and remember the little things about Karen that made a difference in your life.

The following are little notes written when asked of her friends, what comes to mind when you think of Karen.

*"I'm going to miss my determined, brave, intelligent, caring, generous, lover of beautiful things, friend." BC

*"Karen was one of the best friends anyone could have in 10 lifetimes.  The one thing I know for sure is that she would have been the best poker player on earth.  She was in pain a lot and never complained.  I never could read her, therefore I would have lost a lot of money.  I will miss her." BF

*"Karen possessed an underlying level of strength that most of us can only hope to ascend to.  That strength was displayed in her early years as a daring and risk taking young woman.  It was later exhibited as she became a successful small business owner.  Karen's inner power came through as she uncomplainingly endured years of painful health complications. Her welcoming and loving nature will be forever remembered by her many friends." DM

*"Karen was the original strong woman.  Not afraid to speak her mind, and not afraid to invest in all the close friendships she had." FW

*"Karen was my friend since pre-school from 1954-1955.  I always could confide in her on personal things throughout life.  I can say she was the only girl that was always a close friend! Karen was funny…but I'm glad I was on her side.  She wouldn't want me talking though…LOL.  Always luv you girl." David

*"When I think of Aunt Karen, I immediately think of the classy elegance she had about her.  Not the stuffy kind of class, the best kind-great patience, a loving kindness, excellent listener and all the wit for a hilarious, sarcastic comment." KB

*"Karen was always up for fun things.  She was smart, fun and adventurous.  She had beautiful taste and always did whatever she planned to perfection.  She was the same with her clothes and jewelry-always just right.  Unfortunately, Karen never got to travel like she would have liked to.  She was very well read on England and Europe. Even though Karen didn't get to do all the things she would have liked-I feel like she was happy with her life and she enjoyed it.  I'm sure she had her moments, but I think she handled things amazingly well and enjoyed it.  She was a true friend in every way.  I loved Karen.  I'll miss her a lot.  Thank goodness for years of happy memories." PB

*"The very early:

Karen and I first met when we were twelve years old in Junior High School. She was my first and oldest girl friend (rather than girlfriend). We met in 7 ^th grade homeroom, Mr. Hickman's class, the first and same day I met Danny and Bill. We attended different grade schools. Junior High was when kids from maybe five or six different grade schools were dumped into that smoldering cauldron of roiling hormones, awkward new relationships and completely justified self-consciousness. A small cadre of girls and guys assumed Alpha roles by dint of good looks and personality. Karen was obviously part of this group – the 'popular' kids. The 'in crowd'. Theirs was a closed shop – except for Karen. From the first day I met her, that genuine, whole-face smile, infectious laugh, sly sense of humor and kind and open demeanor welcomed me and all. While I was no longer the physical cripple of grade school years, I definitely suffered from arrested social development. I credit Karen and Danny the most for helping me acclimate.

Worth noting (I guess): Karen and I dated on one occasion. It was a high school dance mixer when we were sophomores. We were such good friends it was only logical that we should date. Had we extended that logic more fully we would have realized such good friends should never date. Because when time came for the obligatory goodnight kiss the moment was shattered when mid-kiss, Karen snort-laughed, puncturing the moment along with my ego – for the moment. But just moment. It didn't take long for us to laugh about the episode.

The more recent:

Karen and I didn't closely reconnect until 2016, when she and Linda hosted our little group (Danny, Bill, Bev & Dyke) for a soiree when Mary and I visited Springfield. It had been decades since Karen and I had an opportunity to connect in such a comfortable setting. I was struck by how little she had changed. There was still that genuine, whole face smile, infectious laugh, sly, perhaps more ironic sense of humor and wide open, come-one-come-all demeanor. It was like those intervening decades didn't exist. Following that gathering Karen and I became Facebook friends and thus began, almost daily, an ongoing series of lively, intense and candid written conversations.

Over these five short, fast-moving years Karen and I dissected and reassembled decades of our lives chapter by chapter, person by person and experiences good, bad and indeterminate, openly, almost therapeutically. I shared travel logs and she shared travel memories. We exchanged recipes, political outrage, perspectives on people we know, personal revelations and sometimes just how we were feeling that day. She graced me with her empathy, understanding and deep concern about the welfare of those closest to her, especially Linda, Andress, Beverly and Dyke. She was a rock I could confide in during my cancer diagnosis and surgery and when experiencing the last weeks and days of my brother's life. No topic, thought or idea was too big or too small to share.

Sometimes the big emotional matters required a telephone call. Interesting how I was the one always placing the call. I could count on Karen's understanding and empathy, insights and encouragement and unconditional support and love. Unconditional never meant unchecked, especially on those occasions when my paranoia or hubris seemed to get the better of me.  And Karen accepted with good humor my periodic goading her about suffering fools and borderline lunatics as she did. She was quick to point out that she preferred thinking of it as enduring rather than suffering. The important thing to Karen was none were ever the wiser or thought less of themselves or her.

Karen claimed to be an introvert. If so, then she was a very high functioning introvert who lived life aloud, with a generosity of spirit, an abundance of love, endless grace and a singular way of making everyone feel they alone had a special friendship with her. As Clarence the Angel said, 'Each person's life touches so many other lives' – like George Bailey, Karen truly lived a wonderful life and so many are the better and richer for it. With this in mind dear Karen, Godspeed.  Wear your wings joyfully, you earned them a thousand times over." NMc

She loved, laughed, was loved and will be dearly missed.

If one chooses to make a memorial donation, she was a supporter of Ozarks Food Harvest, particularly providing meals for children.