Karen Bell Schweikle

She was the daughter of Hyrum and Doris Bell of Idaho.

She leaves behind her husband Dave, daughters Katrina Nourblin and Suzanne Davey; four grandchildren, Jasmine Sanderson, Jonathan Nourblin, Michael Davey, and Julia Davey; great granddaughter Anya Sanderson, and a brother, Steve Bell in Tucson. She had resided in Irvine for the past 40 years in Irvine, California.

Karen was born in Twin Falls, Idaho, on February 2, 1940 and lived with her brother Steve and parents at her Grandmother Larsen’s farm until the age of 6 years when they moved into Twin Falls to attend school. She developed her love of animals on the farm, especially for cats and horses. Her father bought a house in Twin Falls after he went to work for a construction company. During her high school years, she became a big fan of Elvis Presley and rock and roll.

Karen graduated from high school and followed her brother to the University of Idaho to study geology. After 2 years at the University, she decided to leave and accompanied her parents to Santa Monica, California. She hired into Douglas Aircraft Company, Missile and Space Division, as a secretary. There, she met her future husband, Dave, an aeronautical engineer in the Power Plant Department. Karen and Dave started dating after he met her at an after work gathering. He was impressed with her knowledge and intellect and, of course, her good looks. She left Douglas and they married and had their first child, Katrina, in Santa Monica. They bought a house and moved to Los Alamitos in October 1963 when Douglas moved the Missiles and Space Division to Huntington Beach, California.

Upon the birth of their first child, Katrina, Karen became a devoted mother. She spent the elementary school years helping out with the Brownie troop and volunteering with the PTA. Though she was a bit shy, she had a great sense of humor and was always willing to give a friend a ride or help with school activities. After school hours, she supported and encouraged her daughter's extracurricular activities by taking her to ballet and ice-skating classes, and to lessons in English riding and piano. Karen was very artistic, doing needlepoint and engaging in some oil painting and pottery classes. She was a skilled seamstress, and she sewed many garments for Katrina, including some prom dresses. Sharing her love of the craft, she also taught Katrina how to sew, stressing the importance of precision and care in every step of the process.

In 1976 Karen had her second child, Suzanne, after her doctor advised her that she couldn’t have any more children. She wasn’t going to let her doctor dictate her desire to have another child.

Karen’s love for animals and art passed down to daughter Suzanne. She had a soft spot for soft animals, and indulged her daughter’s interest in a variety of animals, including cats and horses. Karen and Suzanne spent many hours and years at the stable for Suzanne’s riding and other horse activities. In further support of her children’s activities, she spent many hours helping with school events, as well as driving and being a supportive stage mom to Suzanne for her various musical performances and activities over the many years through elementary, high school, college, and beyond. She even helped chaperone Suzanne’s youth orchestra trip to Australia and New Zealand. Karen was known and beloved by Suzanne’s friends, and was almost a second mom to them. She was the cool mom, and loved for her kindness, warmth, support, patience, and humor.

Although Karen was always interested in buying horse property and we looked extensively, we could never find one that was suitable. At the time, Katrina was attending the University of California in Irvine, and we entered a builder’s lottery to buy a house in the village of Turtle Rock in Irvine. Such were the times in 1980 when housing demand was high and supply was limited. We were selected in the drawing for the first 17 homes and we were number 5 to select one of the new homes. Karen liked the house with a back yard and side yards on both sides. We moved into our new home in June 1981 and have been there ever since.

Karen always loved books and reading and her attention turned to the Irvine University Park Public Library. She joined the Friends of the Library before they had a dedicated store and had annual sales of used books. When the library added a Friends store, she was on the board of directors and was responsible for the store volunteers. She recruited volunteers, trained them and helped the volunteers be successful. When a volunteer couldn’t make their shift, she would find a substitute or cover that shift herself. Karen was a loyal supporter of her volunteers and showed a selfless love to make them all successful. She continued in that role for about 30 years until Alzheimer’s started to take its toll on her ability to continue and she resigned.

Before the disease had progressed too far, the Schweikle family took a river cruise down the Blue Danube in Europe. In all, eleven family members close to Karen enjoyed that trip including Katrina and Suzanne’s families, all four grandchildren, and one grandchild’s husband. Karen enjoyed the trip and the time on board the ship to be with her family, whom she loved very much.

During our 40 years in Irvine, Karen participated and witnessed Katrina graduating from UCI in Mechanical Engineering, her first marriage with the ceremony held in our home, Suzanne graduating from UCI in Music and a master’s degree in viola performance from the University of British Columbia. Karen became the caregiver for her mother in our home as she started to deteriorate from Alzheimer’s and later passed away in a nursing home. After Suzanne’s marriage to a Canadian musician, Kevin, she and Dave made multiple trips every year to Canada to visit Suzanne’s growing family.

Karen can be described as a loving and selfless mother and friend who always was helpful whenever she could be. She doted on her two children and provided them with the best childhood they could ask for. That care extended to her grandchildren and their friends. As one of the library volunteers recently said “She was the Best.” That comment says it all.

There will be a memorial service for Karen near the end of this year as the Covid-19 pandemic is brought under control. The service will be held at the Fairhaven funeral home in Mission Viejo. In lieu of flowers, a donation honoring Karen to the Alzheimer’s fund or a favorite charity of yours is recommended. Karen will be interred at the Pacific View Memorial Park in Newport Beach, California.