Karen Marie Mathews

Karen was born April 25, 1943, in Detroit, Michigan, to parents Edward A. and Helen L. Zeuschel.

Karen attended St. Jane Francis primary school and then graduated from Our Lady of Corvallis High School in Studio City, Calif. She attended college briefly at Cal State Northridge before getting married. She married William “Bill” A. Mathews, November 10,1962. They had two children and numerous others that she claimed.

In two words, Karen was “a lot.” She never sat still, she was always doing something, and she never met a stranger. She was a lot of love, a lot of laughs, and frequently a lot of trouble. She never turned anyone away and always made time to sit and talk with anyone who needed her. Her door was always open to anyone in need. She would give the shirt off her back and the time out of her day. She was very definite in her thoughts with no grey area and had a wicked sense of humor. She was a princess who enjoyed holding court wherever she went. There is no doubt she lived life to the fullest and squeezed every last ounce of life out of her time here.

There was nothing more important to her than her faith. She put God above all else and spent much of her life serving the church and those in it. Some of her most cherished times were those she spent with those in the clergy and serving as an acolyte, delivering the Eucharist to shut-ins and the infirmed. She started and ended every day with her bible. I don’t believe she ever missed a week of church, no matter where in the world she was. She was truly one of the most devout people I know.

After her faith came her family and friends. There was nothing she would not do for those in her circle. There was nothing that was ever too big to ask. She loved spending time with family and friends and holidays were one of her favorite events. Karen loved a good party with lots and lots of chocolate. Any excuse to have chocolate made for a good day in her book. She truly is the only person I know who survived for over eighty years on chocolate cake and ice cream.

Once she had taken care of her faith, her family, and her friends, Karen lived to travel. She took her first trip to Europe at nineteen and never stopped from then on. She was up for going anywhere at any time whether it be a short road trip or a month long trek across Europe with her grandsons. Her last big trip was a pilgrimage through the Holy Land a couple of years ago. The gate attendants in Turkey kept her passport and she surmised that if they wouldn’t let her back in the country without it, she would just keep traveling forever. At the time of her death, she was planning a trip to Scotland, one of the few places she had not managed to visit yet. Karen did manage to walk the beaches in Auckland and Sydney, as well as the great wall of China. She covered all of Europe from Russia to Sweden to Italy. To say she loved to travel was an understatement. Whether on a ship, a plane, or a train it really didn’t matter as long as she was going somewhere. Basically, she never quit moving.

She was the first to volunteer or get involved in organizations. Whether she was volunteering to run school events, coach a soccer team, sit at the historical houses, serve at the church, march at the state capitol with her grandsons, be part of political organizations, be a member of the red hats (any excuse to do lunch) or be part of her swim club the Mean Mermaids, she was involved in all of it.

Lastly, Karen loved business. Over the course of her life, she ran numerous successful businesses both with her husband and on her own. She was the leading fiberglass manufacturer in the state of California for many years. She held both her commercial real estate license and her gemologist license. Bill and Karen were entrepreneurs from the start. They opened their first business in 1962 and continued for the rest of their lives with some being more successful than others. Karen was always trying to come up with building a better mousetrap and never stopped trying to talk everyone into starting another business. She managed her own storage business right up until the end of her life.

Karen was the most social person you would ever want to meet. She didn’t know a stranger and never wanted to slow down. Best guess she is up in Heaven right now telling everyone how to do everything and preparing a place for every one of us who comes after.

Karen was preceded in death by her parents; husband; brother, David Zeuschel; and great-granddaughter, Caysee Akin. She is survived by her daughter, Deanna Akin and husband Mark; son, John Mathews and wife Mary; grandsons: Cody Akin and wife Bailee, Cash Forster, and Taylor Akin and wife Mandy; great-grandchildren, Tinlee Rose Akin and Baker Loyd Akin; bonus children: Brian Williams, Cassaundra Redman, and Holly Martin; dog, Mandy; cat, Tippy; horse, Pink; and friends too numerous to count, stretching from her church, clubs, volunteer organizations, and every other venue imaginable.

Godspeed Mom, it was quite the ride.