Karen R. (Gard) Stephenson

YORK- Karen R. Stephenson passed away on Sunday, October 14 after a fierce and unexpected battle with lung cancer. She was 70 years old. Karen was born in Frankfurt, Germany to an American service man, Richard H. Gard, and his British-born and bred wife, Rosemary (Dolling) Booth. When Karen was five, the family, which now included sister Jennifer Susan (Smiljanich) and brother Stephen H. Gard, crossed the Atlantic by ocean steamer and settled in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, where she and her siblings were raised by their mother. After graduating from high school, Karen attended Lake Superior State College, where she graduated third in her class on June 14, 1969. Karen was married on the same day as her college graduation to fellow classmate John G. Stephenson, with whom she would go on to share 49 years of marriage. Karen worked in various positions over the years, including in retail for Hudson’s in Detroit, and as a school librarian in Alpena, Michigan. She came to Pennsylvania in 1979 when her husband accepted a sales and marketing position with Yorktown Cabinets in Red Lion. It was here that she raised three children – daughter Sheila M. Stephenson and sons Michael J. (Andrea) and Douglas R. Stephenson – worked as personal accountant, assistant and secretary to husband John, and took on all manner of volunteer activities, including as a York Township Elementary library volunteer, Treasurer of the Dallastown Track and Field Booster Club, and a classroom aide at Ore Valley Elementary School. She also developed a keen interest in dolls and doll collecting, and served several terms as President and Treasurer of Central Penn Doll Collectors’ Club. She also worked tirelessly to improve the lives of the stray and feral cats in her community, and opened her heart and home to many feline friends through the years, especially those most in need. Karen touched the lives of many, and will be remembered most for her extraordinary kindness, compassion, gentleness of spirit, generosity, and unfailing love and devotion to her family. There could be no better wife, mother or friend. A visitation will be held from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Thursday, October 18, 2018 at Life Tributes by Olewiler and Heffner Funeral Chapel & Crematory, Inc., 35 Gotham Pl., Red Lion. Burial will be in Mt. Rose Cemetery Memorial contributions can be made to the York County SPCA SOS Program, and to Hospice & Community Care, whose assistance to Karen during the last weeks of her life was most appreciated.