Karen is survived by her husband of 30 years, Thomas (Tom) Brackman of Murfreesboro, TN, and her brother Rick Zajack of Manlius, NY. Karen is also survived by two children, daughter Tamara Voninski and son Alek Voninski, as well as a grandson, Axel, all in Sydney, Australia.
Karen was born on May 9, 1944, in Syracuse, NY to Bill and Genevieve Zajack. She later moved to Sidney, NY, and graduated from Sidney High in 1962.
Karen lived a substantial part of her life in upstate New York before moving to Nashville in 1978. She worked in administrative and executive secretarial capacities for companies such as Atlantic Richfield, Eastman Kodak, Texas Instruments, Johnson and Johnson, Sanofi/Winthrop, and Baptist Hospital for over three decades.
She met Tom in 1984 on Christmas night and they married on December 28, 1989, at the Cathedral of the Incarnation in Nashville, TN.
Karen was accomplished at art, particularly wood-burning, painting and crafts. She taught wood burning and painting at the Smyrna and Murfreesboro Senior Centers and at Hobby Lobby in her spare time. She was also active with annual craft fairs at St. Stephen’s Church in Mount Juliet, TN, which featured some of the most talented artists in the region.
Karen was an avid music lover and loved to dance. She was a fixture at all the gigs played by her musician husband Tom, and enjoyed going to hear live music from their favorite Nashville area artists.
Visitation is scheduled for 2:00 pm - 6:00 pm on Sunday May 3rd at Roselawn Funeral Home, Murfreesboro, TN. Due to current social distance restrictions, we ask that you be aware of distance between you and the other guests. There may be a brief wait outside if the room is at capacity.
Funeral Services will be held the following day at 2:00 pm on Monday May 4th also at Roselawn Funeral Home. Once again during the chapel service and graveside service, we ask you to be aware of the guests near you.
For those unable to attend the Funeral Service on Monday, the service will be live-streamed on Facebook on the Roselawn Funeral Home page at: Roselawn Funeral Home & Memorial Gardens- Murfreesboro, TN.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the American Liver Foundation and American Cancer Society to help find better treatments, a cure for liver related diseases as well as all types of cancer.
The family would like to thank the front-line caregivers at Memphis Methodist Hospital and St. Thomas and Centennial Hospitals, for care provided against the extreme challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Special thanks goes to Alive Hospice and Karen's closest friends, for their assistance in providing the most dignified and caring experience possible for Karen in her final hours.
A special slide deck has been assembled with pictures of Karen throughout her lifetime. This can be viewed via the following link: https://vimeo.com/414165982/da62b017d0 (copy link, paste in browser).
As well, a video of the pre-wedding ceremony music from Karen and Tom’s wedding from 30 years ago is being shared as a confirmation of Tom's commitment to Karen's memory. This can be viewed at the following link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QGH2xXLjZA&t=28s (copy link, paste in browser).
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