Karen Elaine Baughman

Karen E. Baughman, 65, passed away Tuesday, January 24, 2017 at her home in Kansas City, Kansas. Friends may call from 2:00pm to 4:00pm Tuesday, January 31st, at the Chapel Hill-Butler Funeral Home, 701 North 94th Street in Kansas City, Kansas, where a Memorial Service will be held at 3:00pm. Inurnment will be held at a later date in Chapel Hill Memorial Gardens. In lieu of flowers, the family requests contributions be made to Catholic Charities.

Karen was born March 5, 1951 in Kansas City, Missouri and spent her formative years in Kansas City, Kansas, where she became a promising young Ballerina and began her lifelong love of music, before graduating from Wyandotte High School in 1969. She married the love of her life, Mike Baughman on October 2, 1971 and moved to New York shortly thereafter. She later moved to Lawrence Kansas, where she continued her education, and earned her Master’s Degree in Social work from the University of Kanas in 1979, before moving back to Kansas City, Kansas, where she lived until her passing. Karen held many different jobs throughout her lifetime, but most involved social work. She especially loved working with kids at Children’s Mercy Hospital, but her most loved career and the one she held the longest was as a Clinical Social worker for the Veterans Administration. Karen specialized in helping POW Survivors and often volunteered to work the Crisis Line in the evening. She retired from the VA in 2012. Karen was a member of NASW and St. Patrick’s Catholic Church.

She was preceded in death by her father, John Gilbert Bowman and her brother, Steven Gilbert Bowman.

Survivors include her husband, Mike Baughman of the home; her daughter, Krystal Baughman of Olathe, Kansas; her mother, Louise Schmidt of Kansas City, Kansas; 2 sisters, Marita Bowman-Mitchell and Glenda Hamer, both of Kansas City, Kansas; and 1 sister-in-law, Alice Bowman of Overland Park, Kansas.

Fond memories and condolences may be left at www.chapelhill-buter.com, as Arrangements are under the direction of Chapel Hill-Butler Funeral Home, 701 North 94th Street in Kansas City, Kansas (913)334-3366.