Karen Elaine (Shardelman) Timmerman

Karen Elaine Timmerman (Shardelman) (December 17, 1959) went to be with her Heavenly Father on May 15, 2020. She and her husband, Alexander (Alex) Timmerman were married for 38 years and had been together for a total of 45 years.

Karen was born in Centralia, Washington to Munson (Mike) and Dora Shardelman. After moving to Poulsbo, Karen graduated from North Kitsap Senior High School in 1978 as the class salutatorian and also earned the principal-award. She attended Whitman College in Walla Walla for one year and then transferred to Western Washington University in Bellingham. She completed her undergraduate degree within three years, graduating in 1981 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in French and a minor in German. She married Alex on August 29, 1981 and they moved to Bremerton where they raised their two sons. Karen’s greatest joy came from caring for and spending time with her family, and for her last 12 years, caring for her beloved great dane, Sawyer.

As a young woman, Karen spent time exploring the world, making several trips with her mother and father to South Korea and the Philippines during college. Karen’s adventures in Asia and the South Pacific contributed greatly to the woman Karen became. Her travels across the Pacific also contributed to the wealth of funny and colorful stories she often shared with family and friends.

In 1975, during her sophomore year at North Kitsap High School—Valentine's Day weekend as fate would have it—-Karen began going steady with the man whom she would share the rest of her journey, raise a family with, and become the love of her life, Alex Timmerman. Alex was instantly attracted to Karen’s intelligence and her sense of humor. In 1980, after 10 games of cribbage, Alex asked Karen’s father for his blessing to marry her. He said yes, and on August 29th, 1981, Karen married her high school sweetheart.

Karen often said that her greatest accomplishment in life was raising her 2 sons “into fine men.” Karen’s oldest son, Jacob (Jake), was born in September of 1982, and her youngest son, Jared, in 1985. Jake was a standout high school athlete, lettering in both football and wrestling. He went on to get his bachelor’s and master’s degrees. He is married to his wife of 12 years, Erin, and works as a mental health therapist in Vancouver, WA. Jared was a decorated youth gymnast during his school years. Jared has gone on to achieve numerous certifications in the information systems and computer technology field. Jared is married to his wife of 6 years, Victoria, and works as a senior infrastructure analyst for the Hawaiian Electric Company in Waikiki, HI.

Karen enjoyed exploring her artistic and analytical sides through reading and creative writing. Her favorite literary genres included fantasy and science fiction. She especially loved the works of Anne Mcaffrey, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Robert Asprin. Karen spent a significant amount of time learning copyright, grant, and technical writing techniques, as well as engaging with different approaches to non—fiction writing. She was also interested in examining various political and current events, and frequently wrote letters to the editor and op-ed pieces in local newspapers.

Karen loved to go fishing with Alex. She and Alex spent many weekends fishing for salmon and halibut around the Puget Sound and off of the northwest coast of Washington. When she wasn’t enjoying nature on the water, Karen would drive all round the Olympic National Forest and walk the trails with Alex and granddog, Sawyer, who also passed away on May 15th.

In 2015, Karen was diagnosed with stage four ovarian cancer, which after a grueling chemotherapy process, she miraculously beat. Throughout her experience, Karen’s faith that God would heal her remained strong. May 17th, two days after her death, marked the end of her five years of remission. As they were initially told at the time of her diagnosis that Karen would likely not survive the type of cancer she had, her family feels incredibly blessed to have had five more years with her and will always treasure the memories created during that extra time.

Karen was preceded in death by her father, and is survived by her mother, her husband, her two sons Jake (Erin) and Jared (Victoria), her brother Michael (Mike) Shardelman (Bonnie) and her sister Terri, as well as four nieces, five nephews, and two grandnieces.