Karen Shepherd Turner

“Why have a baby, when you can have a puppy,”

When Karen died on her birthday, she was intent to meet up with her beloved array of critters at the Rainbow Bridge. Karen was born in Rolla, Missouri and was true to her “Show Me” state standard during

her long legal career from a newly minted Idaho attorney to a lead legal researcher, investigator and writer at Florida’s Attorney General’s Office in Tallahassee with numerous areas of law in between. Her dad, Cliff Turner was an architect builder of many homes in Tallahassee and her mom Doris was the brains in the family and moved them all to DC where Karen spent her teen years soaking up politics and Watergate. Her only sibling was an equally handsome older brother Rick, who was drafted and sent to Vietnam. Throughout her life, Karen remained a devout news junkie.

Karen graduated from Texas A&M and from the University of Puget Sound law school (now Seattle University). She worked while in Tacoma at a large castle of a funeral home as the night attendant with living quarters right next to the prep room.

In Seattle in 1989, Karen saw a little ad in the Seattle Gay News: Boiled Peanuts – a monthly social potluck for gay Southerners. She showed up with a bag of chips under her arm and later married the founder of the group, Lissa Flock. The two soon adopted their first puppy and went on to be the forever home for dozens of cats and dogs over the course of their 33-year relationship. In 1993 they decided to move back South to be closer to their aging parents packed up their little RV with a 100-pound dog and 4 cats (slippery eels on a long road trip) and landed in Tallahassee.

Karen was the only one left of her immediate family – she had lost her brother early to ALS. Karen is survived by her suspicious Catahoula pup with great eye contact, Stevie Nicks, her crazy black and while kitty, Perry Mason, and her heartbroken wife, Lissa Flock. Karen had many friends in the neighborhood of dog walkers and from her jobs at Department of Community Affairs and the AG Office. There will be several small gatherings to honor her life at a later time. Donations are appreciated on her behalf to the Leon County Humane Society and MSA .org. Multiple System Atrophy is a rare terminal neurological illness that Karen dealt with for 7 years.

For information regarding Karen's memorial services please email [email protected]

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