Karen was born the only child to George and Iris Voaden on the 9th of July 1951 in Stoke-on-Trent. Karen starting school early at 4 and a half when her mother sadly fell ill. By 5 years old she was able to get herself off to school and back over 1½ miles away from home.
 
By age 7 she could be trusted to do the grocery shopping at Hanley market, making Karen very resourceful and independent at such a tender age.
 
Sometimes when her mother was away, she would be looked after by her beloved auntie Elsie, often accompanied by Cousin John. She always looked upon John as the older brother she never had (even if he wouldn’t let her play with his immaculately kept dinky car collection).
 
Her favourite early holidays were spent on the North coast of Wales when Karen would enjoy helping the guesthouse landlady run her corner shop.
She could often be found volunteering at the local riding stables where she developed a lifelong love for horses (something she later passed to Harriet). In her late teens, Karen was often found with her best friend Joy or at her Saturday job at Woolworths looking after the customers, once again ‘playing shop’.
 
Passing her driving test as soon as possible, she was able to drive to her sixth form school in an old Ford Popular car which her dad acquired by trading in a refrigerator.  During this time, she had her first trip abroad to the Norwegian fjords in a converted school ship called ‘Nevasa’, an experience which stayed with her and added to her love of travelling and exploring new places.
 
During sixth form there were fewer A-level options for girls so despite her love of science, Karen ended up doing A Levels in  Arts and Geography.  She later went on to study Psychology and Philosophy. This was considered the closest thing to medicine on offer and she long since regretted not becoming a doctor (maybe this explains why ‘Casualty’ was her favourite show on tv!).
 
In her last year at university she met her first husband Graham and went to teacher training college in Huddersfield.
 
Her first job involved moving down to Eastleigh as a lecturer, teaching apprentices and students at the local technical college, and she also realised her dream of owning a horse and loved riding in the New Forest.
 
Her first son Adam was born whilst they were living in Hythe.  Karen was desperate to make sure that that Adam would not be an only child as she felt  her younger years were very lonely without siblings. Paul followed 2 years later!  41 years on, Adam has still not forgiven her for this imposition.
 
After separating with Graham, Karen forged her own life with the boys buying a small house in Eastleigh close to where she worked.
 
A couple of years later she met Martin at a University social club event and was remarried a year or so later. Their daughter Harriet was born in 1988 and they settled in West Wellow.
 
Karen was always an active member of the community and children’s social life, running Beavers, Cubs, Scouts and Pony Clubs. She was also always keen on any chance to get involved in amateur dramatics, she helped put on the community show at the Plaza in Romsey and continued with a series of further productions.
 
Karen and Martin would take the family on caravan and camping holidays across France, driving along all singing songs together and this was a great opportunity not only to spend time together but to practice French - complete with an over-elaborate accent!
 
After over 25 years rising through the ranks at Eastleigh college, Karen took voluntary redundancy and embarked on an adventure to New Zealand seeking a change of lifestyle.
 
During the nine years abroad, she become Head of the IT department at the local polytechnic and was able to enjoy her dream of a country equestrian lifestyle, including running the local pony club of which Harriet was a member.
 
Most weekends during Harriet’s school years were spent at various horse events, helping her to learn the latest dressage test or tracking cross country results.  Even in later life Karen still pined to be galloping through the forest whenever she saw an open plane.
 
Six years ago, Karen become a Grandma with the arrival of first Frank and then Ted.  She spent much of her retirement doting on the two boys, Being the first person to the hospital when Ted was born and always being there when Paul & Heather needed a helping hand. They fondly remember her blue Ford Fiesta turning up and her enthusiastically coming to the door with a wide smile.
 
Karen was never really retired.  To replace the gap left in her working life, she took on multiple responsibilities becoming an Ambassador for Naomi House (a local children’s hospice), coaching students at the local school, joining the local woman’s register and latterly volunteering for the NHS support line.
 
During this time, she reinvented herself taking to walking at least 5 miles each day and becoming fit in the process.  She loved walking in the forest, parks, along the coast or even round the block if the daily step target demanded it! This enabled her to be more active and enjoy exploring the countryside (and indeed the world) with Martin.
 
However, Karen was able to enjoy some of the benefits of retired life. She made great use of Harriet’s ability to get a family discount on cruising and together Karen and Martin were able to travel and holiday together all around the world.  
 
Karen loved to sew and made a lot of her own outfits. She was constantly mending, fixing and altering the family’s clothes, and turned her hand to creating costumes for the grand kids, anything from Aladdin, the Hulk and even an Octopus!
 
She adored musical theatre and would often find her singing away at home or in the car.  And of course, Karen loved shopping.  She’d happily spend countless hours waiting for Harriet whilst she tried every outfit in the store before deciding she didn’t like any of them.
 
Throughout her entire life, family has been everything to Karen.  She loved hosting everyone for family BBQ’s, festive dinners and team quizzes (for which she had all the answers!). The home always smelled of fresh bread, a process she perfected with a bit of help from Paul Hollywood.  The homemade Dinosaur bread was a must have for the Grand Kids (the stuff of legend!)
 
Karen was always there for her children, singing lullabies when they couldn’t sleep, running Paul around to fishing lakes all over the country, or making cakes (remembering drawing a line in the bowl to fairly share the leftovers!).  She supported them through every success and failure, pushing them when they needed pushing and encouraging them make their own decisions too.
 
Karen has always been keen to do the right thing with strong socialist beliefs, looking out for her family, friends, students and others and was considered a mentor by many who knew her.  What drove her was a sense that accepting injustice, inequality or simple accepting things did not work was, in fact, unacceptable. In her work life and her personal life, she was totally dedicated to the task in hand.
 
It was not that she would ‘help out at cubs’ but ended up running the cubs, then the scouts, then fighting to allow girls to join.  She was never one to turn up, say a few lines and shuffle off…she would, quite unintentionally, end up being one of the key people running the show.
 
But this was Karen she was so caring: she would do anything for others and lived to please, wanting nothing in return.  She was passionate: she went headfirst into everything she did and gave 100% to each and every duty she took on.