Karen Sue Beede

Karen was born June 27, 1950 to Charles Edward and Donna Kathleen (Zapfe) Holm in Cass City, Michigan. She attended the public schools. Following high school, she attended Central Michigan University where she earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education while working full-time. She completed her student teaching Downriver south of Detroit. Karen then moved to Kalamazoo, Michigan and had her daughter, Emily.

Shortly afterwards she began substitute teaching and soon had her own third grade classroom. Simultaneously she earned a Master’s Degree in Early Childhood Development at Western Michigan University. Later, when the school district needed a speech and language pathologist, Karen went back to school while still teaching third grade to earn her Master’s Degree in Speech Pathology from Western Michigan. She then became the speech pathologist in five schools (K - 12) for the Wayland School District for over 25 years. Her greatest passion and joy in life were her special and gifted students.

While teaching in the Wayland School District, she also was the representative to the Michigan Education Association.

In 2012, Karen married David Beede. The pair lived in Holt, Michigan, where Karen retired. In retirement, she found great pleasure in volunteering. She frequently could be found behind the reception and call desk at the East Lansing Senior Center and was Volunteer of the Year in 2016. She served as a docent for the Michigan Supreme Court. She also served as a poll worker in Windsor Township, Eaton County, Michigan during retirement.

In early 2015, Karen and David spent six months in Davis, California while David was on sabbatical. Following that, they lived the rest of 2015 in Deep Cove (North Vancouver), British Columbia, Canada, during sabbatical at the University of British Columbia. Karen and David then returned to Michigan, where they remained until their move to Colorado in 2018. Long road trips, antique stores, and eating out were favorites for Karen in retirement.

Karen was a voracious reader on many subjects. She mastered everything she did, from speech pathology and education, to doing and teaching knitting and rug hooking. She rescued and loved her pets, especially her cats. From an early age she was a true aficionado at finding treasures in antique stores, flea markets, and thrift shops. She had unique collections of antique Mission style furniture, quilts, and knitting books. She was patient but firm and extremely tenacious in everything she did. Karen fought hard for what she believed in all her life — and she found her true path.

She is survived by her husband, favorite niece, grand niece and nephew and family in Florida, and niece, two grand nephews and family in Parker, Colorado; and, special long-time sister-friends Downriver and colleagues in the Wayland schools.

Since moving to Colorado Karen has served on the Board of Directors for the Children’s Speech and Reading Center in northern Colorado.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Karen Beede Scholarship Fund at the Children’s Speech and Reading Center (https://www.csrckids.org) to help lower income children with their speech-language challenges and reading needs.