Karen was born on January 14, 1940 to Ruth and Jim Keefer. Jim was a Lt. Commander in the U.S. Navy serving in the Pacific Fleet during World War II. When Karen was 1 year old, she and her mother were sent to Pearl Harbor while her dad was at sea. Karen and her mom were there for that fateful morning of December 7, 1941. Karen and her mom were living in a house with black paper on the windows eating dinner at 3:00 in the afternoon expecting the bombing to start again. They didn't hear from Jim for three days, but finally they received word that he was alive. Three days later, they were shipped along with all of the other women and children to San Francisco.
After the war, Karen and her family lived in San Diego. After high school, Karen went to Cal Western University. There she met Mike Johnson from San Fernando, CA. They dated for three and a half years and had two beautiful children, Matt and Shannon. They were the love of their lives and happily married for 34 years until Mike passed away suddenly in 1995.
Karen is survived by her son, Matt, her daughter, Shannon Avazian, her son-in-law, Brett Avazian, and three grandchildren, Dallas, Devyn and Tess.
Services will be held on Wednesday, April 20, 2016 at 11:00am at Eternal Valley Memorial Park Mortuary
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