Karen Pettibone

Karen Louise Pettibone (née Duka) passed away on May 16th in her home in San Luis Obispo at the age of 69. Karen was in hospice care stemming from endometrial cancer. She is survived by her husband of 48 years, Don Pettibone, and their six children, Carolyn Starr, Lisa Sabado, Michael Pettibone, Maureen Ryan, James Pettibone, and Jenice Pettibone. She is also survived by her 93 year old father, Eugene Duka Sr.

Karen was born in Medina, Ohio on September 13, 1952. She was the oldest of seven children born to Eugene and June Duka, who moved to California in 1954, settling in Santa Clara. Her siblings are David Duka, Susan Bolinger, Jeanette Duka Smith, Dan Duka, Eugene Duka Jr. and Connie Frazier. Karen was very close to her parents and siblings, and the Duka family is a very loving family. She graduated from Wilcox High School in Santa Clara, where she was valedictorian. She attended Santa Clara University starting in 1970 and graduated with a BS in biology. She met her husband Don at SCU and they married in 1973. They raised their children in Cupertino and San Jose. After working as a lab technician, Karen stayed at home raising and, at times, home schooling their children. She then later worked at the children’s school, Faria Elementary School, starting in the early 90’s first as the GATE coordinator and later as the the Computer Technologist, retiring in 2018. When Don retired in 2020, they moved to San Luis Obispo.

Karen was beloved by her family, and loved them deeply in return. First, as a daughter, then as a big sister. Then later as a wife to Don, who couldn’t believe his good fortune when she agreed to marry him. And later as mother to six children, who adore her. She drove them everywhere, to sports, to chess competitions, to enrichment classes of all sorts, to the library, to scouts, and on and on. The children at Faria also adored her and considered her to be almost magical as she taught a GATE class before school began, ran the Computer Lab, and appeared in their classrooms to fix their computer problems. Karen loved all the children and they knew it. Sometimes the younger children would hang out near her at recess and at lunch and bask in the attention she gave them. Finally, she was loved and returned the love, as a grandmother to our eight grandchildren and as an aunt to 24 nieces and nephews. Karen loved nothing more than to be with family.

She had two other great passions in her life, the first one being ice cream. Karen had an encyclopedic knowledge of the location of all nearby ice cream shops, no matter where she happened to be. She also made sure to buy stock in the IPO of a local ice cream company that she liked, in part because she and Don would get free ice cream at shareholder meetings. Her second passion was books, especially children’s literature. There are 15 bookcases at home, which are not enough to hold all of the books. Karen and the children would go to the library weekly, all returning with a shopping bag full of books. All six of the children have inherited these passions from Karen.

Karen was a devout Catholic whose faith never wavered. Her family prays that she finds rest and peace in the love of God. We will all miss her so much.

A visitation for Karen will be held Friday, June 10, 2022 from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM with Vigil at 6:00 PM at Lima Family Santa Clara Mortuary, 466 North Winchester Blvd, Santa Clara, CA 95050.

A Funeral Mass will be held Saturday, June 11, 2022 at 11:00 AM at St. Joseph of Cupertino Church, 10110 N. De Anza Blvd., Cupertino, CA 95014. Interment to follow at Gate of Heaven Catholic Cemetery, 22555 Cristo Rey Dr, Los Altos, CA 94024.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.limafamilysantaclara.com for the Pettibone family.