Karen Janetha Parelius

Karen was born in Flint, Michigan, in 1938 and graduated from Flint Central High School in 1957, where she served as editor of the senior yearbook, The Prospectus. She earned a Bachelor of Humanities degree with High Honors, a Master of Music degree in Applied Music (Harp) from Michigan State University, and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Educational Administration from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.

Karen taught elementary students in Michigan, Kansas, Iowa, Germany, and the Netherlands for twenty-two years. In 1981, she returned to graduate school, where she was a doctoral fellow in educational administration. Having completed her Doctor of Philosophy studies, Karen assumed the position of Education Program Manager at Hanau Elementary School, administered by the United States Department of Defense Dependents Schools. She then became the Education Program Manager and Assistant Principal at Butzbach Elementary School the following year. From 1985 to 1990, she served as the Principal at both Giessen Elementary School and Turner Junior High School in Frankfort. In 1991, Karen opened the new Wurzburg Middle School as Principal and was honored by the U.S. Department of Education as a National Distinguished Principal. The following year, Wurzburg Middle School was named a Blue Ribbon School. Karen completed her professional education career in 1998.

During her years in Germany, Karen was a harpist with the Stuttgart Orchestra. Karen then retired to Camron, North Carolina, where she was the principal harpist for the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra for several years. In 2003, she met and married Allen Parelius, and they subsequently moved to Midland, Michigan, where she played the harp with the Midland Community and Symphony Orchestras. Karen also taught the harp privately.

For many years, Karen and Allen traveled and photographed the wonders of the world, from the McMurdo United States Research Station in the Ross Sea, Antarctica, to the Dalai Lima reception quarters in the Potala Palace, Lhasa, Tibet, and from hiking in the Carpathian Mountains in Romania to Torres del Paine National Park in Chile. Karen was an expert skier and skied on many world-famous slopes throughout Europe and the United States. Each summer, Karen looked forward to moving to her renovated and enlarged log cabin on Clear Lake, north of West Branch, Michigan, which her father had built when she was three years old.

Then, one spring day, Karen, with a quizzical look on her face, remarked, “ I don’t know who I am or what I’m supposed to do,” and dementia progressively robbed Karen of all her beautiful memories and many talents. Karen then moved to CandleStone Assisted Living, where she received proper medical care and established new friendships.

Karen brought pleasure to thousands through her music and educational talents over the years, and she will always be remembered by her wide circle of friends, both here in the States and abroad, as an intelligent, caring, responsible, adventurous, and optimistic person who was always a joy to be around.

Rest in peace, Karen.