Karen Elizabeth Kopitzke, 77, passed away on Saturday, April 4, 2026, at the Onaga Health and Rehabilitation Center in Onaga, KS.

She was born April 2, 1949, in Orange, California, the daughter of Clifford and Bernice Shedd Kopitzke. She graduated from Newport Harbor High School in Newport Beach, CA in 1967 and attended Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, CA.

Karen met the challenges she faced in life with a resilient spirit. Along the way, she lived in California, Michigan, Washington state, and Kansas. She enjoyed living in Manhattan, KS, for many years but aways remained a Californian at heart.

She was a voracious reader and loved to travel far and wide through the books she read. Her reading and attention to current events resulted in a large vocabulary she didn't hesitate to use.

Karen enjoyed singing and reading aloud, loved the ocean, and relished a hot cup of tea and a good piece of cheese.  She was an ace at nurturing finicky house plants and was partial to cats, including the K-State Wildcat athletic teams.

Survivors include a son, Richard Payne, in Kansas; a daughter, Caryn Husk, in California; a sister, Christine Kopitzke, in California; and a granddaughter, Linnaea.

No public services are planned. Karen's ashes are to be scattered in the Pacific Ocean. Chapel Oaks Funeral Home in Onaga, KS, is assisting the family.