Karen Marie Gerald

Karen Marie Gerald, age 80, of Boca Raton, Florida passed away in her sleep during the early hours of Sunday, October 16, 2022. Karen was born on February 1st, 1942 in Milton, Indiana to Clarence and Dagmar Baggesen. She was raised in Racine, Wisconsin with her three siblings Jerry, Pat, and Nancy in a warm, loving household steeped in Danish tradition - something that Karen was proud of her entire life, influencing many of the delicious meals and desserts she loved to prepare for her family on holidays, birthdays, or sometimes, just because.

Karen graduated from William Horlick High School in 1960. It was the summer prior to her senior year of high school during a chance meeting through a friend when she was introduced to her future husband, Dan, after he marched in a 4th of July parade as a member of the performing drill team of Great Lakes Naval Training Center. Karen and Dan were married in Racine in November of 1960, and at the tender age of 18, she left everyone and the life she knew in Wisconsin to join with Dan and start their beautiful life together in Virginia Beach, VA.

Her marriage to Dan was truly a love story of 62 years. Karen devoted her life to making a warm, loving home to raise their three children, Lisa, Michelle, and Steve. The summer of 1983 brought the family to Boca Raton, FL, the place Karen and Dan have called home ever since.

Anyone who knew Karen found her to be a kind, gentle, and amazingly strong woman who loved her family with everything she had as a wife, a mother, and grandmother, where she always brought laughter and happiness to her four grandsons who all loved her dearly. Although she struggled mightily with dementia for the last ten or so years of her life, she could always light up any room with her radiance, positive personality, and beautiful warm smile.

Karen was preceded in death by her parents, Clarence and Dagmar Baggesen, her three siblings, Patrick Baggesen (Constance), Jerome Baggesen (Josephine), and Nancy Engsted (Bendt). She is survived by her loving and devoted husband Dan, their three children and their spouses, Lisa Marie Livingway (John), Karen Michelle Heintz (David), and Steven Daniel Gerald (Barbara Garcia), and her four grandsons, Trevor Scott Livingway, Zachary Ryan Livingway, Travis Remington Heintz, and Peter Samuel Gerald.

Services will be held at Babione Kraeer Funeral Home, 1100 N Federal Highway in Boca Raton, FL. There will be a visitation Saturday, October 22, 2022 from 2pm until 4pm where light refreshments will be served. The funeral service will also be held at Babione Kraeer Funeral Home the next day, Sunday, October 23, 2022 at 10am. Internment will immediately follow at Boca Raton Mausoleum, 451 SW 4th Avenue, Boca Raton, FL.

In lieu of flowers, the family wishes instead that donations to be made in Karen’s memory to the Louis and Anne Green Memory and Wellness Center. Donations can be made online at the following link: https://fauf.fau.edu/memory-and-wellness-center or by check payable to FAU Foundation, Inc and mailed to the Louis and Anne Green Memory and Wellness Center, 777 Glades Road, Building AZ-79, Boca Raton , FL 33431. Please be sure to note Karen’s name as a tribute gift if you donate online or on the check’s memo line if you donate by mail.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.babionesouthflorida.com for the Karen Gerald family.