Karen Marie Hinkle

In the lives of those dear to her, Karen was a loving and caring force, a constant presence, an invaluable blessing. She provided a frequent source of loving and supportive phone calls, cards, and prayers. Karen was a natural caregiver and provided her children with the caring framework for them to care for their own families. She was very smart, easily conversant in areas of science and medicine.

Karen, like the other women in her family, found an early career as a medical professional – first as a paramedic, a part-owner of an ambulance service in New Orleans, then as a medical records technician, and later in life as a member of New Life Healing Ministry. She was a devout Catholic and had a particular devotion to Our Lady, Mary. She suffered both mentally and physically in her life, and she is remembered by her friends as a model for those suffering chronic pain, offering her suffering up to God.

Karen enjoyed crafting and learned how to weave baskets, fabric, and rugs, made quilts, created counted cross-stitch art, and more. She collected and grew orchids and all kinds of plants, and often liked to go for walks together with her husband and best friend Jim through parks and arboretums to enjoy nature.

Her kids remember her fondness for thriller novels, horror movies, and rollercoasters, which she imbued in most of them as well. She enjoyed religious books as well, and often bought extras to share with friends and family. She loved Richard Harris, Simon & Garfunkel, The Moody Blues, Bread, the Bee Gees, Air Supply, Barry Manilow, Neil Diamond, and ABBA. This formed the soundtrack for her kids’ youth. They’d listen to those 8-track tapes & cassettes on loop in the car, whether going to the grocery store or a doctor’s office, trekking to suburban Detroit to visit her sister, or heading out to pick blueberries.

Karen was born May 4, 1949, in Belleville, MI, the second of six children to the late Felix (“Bud”) and Helen Feitel. In addition to her parents, she is preceded in death by her brother George Feitel and sister Sheryl Boszak – who passed away only two months ago and to whom she was very close, and is survived by her brothers Frederick Feitel (Elaine Orr), Leonard Feitel (Susan), and Mark Feitel (Ann). Her loving and devoted husband of 55 years, James L. Hinkle, was at her side when she passed, and she is held in dear memory by her four children, Christopher (Adrian Safar), Gregory (Adrienne Cvetkovic), Benjamin (Christine Olson), and Kari (Tom Finkenstadt), and her grandchildren Nick, Nora, Anna, and Damian Hinkle and Jillian and Evan Figelman.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to St Leonard’s CHI Living Community (https://www.chilivingcommunities.org/sl-donations) or Dynamic Catholic (https://www.dynamiccatholic.com/join-in-this-mission/DON-USA-RGM-15.html).