Karen Fleischer

Former longtime Anchorage resident, Karen Fleischer, died peacefully and passed to her next life on March 20th, surrounded by faith, her loving husband, Terry, and her five girls. A golden angel she always wore around her neck kept her company until the heavenly ones arrived.

Karen was born in Racine, WI, the only child of Ruth and William Krenzke. Her mother was an organist and toddler Karen, playing amongst the pedals, began a lifelong love of music and sharing her pitch perfect voice. She was also an avid reader, top student, decorated athlete and general overachiever at Lutheran High School which propelled her on to college at Valparaiso University. There Karen met her husband, Terry, in history class, where he admits she was “smarter than me”. They married in 1960, moving to Alaska in 1964 after the Good Friday Earthquake, first to Juneau and then to Anchorage. Her girls treasure memories of shopping at Junior Towne, browsing the Sears catalog and Mom’s poppyseed birthday cakes. In addition to tending to a young family, Karen served as an organist and choir director at several churches and served a term as local Chair of the American Guild of Organists.

Karen further broke the Midwest curse of never leaving one’s hometown by traveling widely with her family and husband, living all over the world, including 3 sabbatical years in Indiana, England and New Jersey, and then after Terry retired, in Montreal, Canada; Chicago, IL; Cape Town, South Africa; and, finally, Seattle, WA to be closer to family. After raising her 5 daughters, she was also able to complete her undergraduate degree in music and later, graduate studies in sacred music at Westminster Choir College, Princeton, NJ. While a member of the Westminster Symphonic Choir, she sang at Leonard Bernstein’s memorial and on a recording of “Tosca” by the Philadelphia Orchestra under Riccardo Muti. As a member of St. George’s Cathedral in Cape Town, in addition to singing in 3 choirs, she was especially attentive to refugees and migrants in the parish, helping them to arrange legal services, hosting meals and teaching English skills.

This generous spirit was part of Karen’s nature—she freely gave her time, supported charities, and delighted in giving gifts and spoiling her family. In recent years she found joy in flowers, gardens and lunch outings with her family—enjoying a sip of pink champagne to celebrate—as well as trips to Hawaii and the Oregon Coast. She continued her early love of sports as an avid fan, especially of the Seattle Mariners and the PGA golf tour.

Karen is survived by her husband of 64 years, Terry, and her children, Lisa, Amy (Kurt), Jill (Kenny), Polly (Jim) and Jenny (Ed) and grandchildren, Mia, Sophie, Piers, Conner, Rory, Tessa, Fiona, Griffin and Hugo and great-grands, Theo and Goldie. She was preceded in death by her parents, grandson Teddy, and dear friends, Joy and Judith. Her last years were also greatly blessed by her Skyline friends, and staff and caregivers there who nurtured and honored her spirit and made sure her hair was perfect.

Funeral services are April 4 at 10am at Trinity Episcopal Parish Church in Seattle, WA. Reception following at Skyline Olympic Tower. Memorial donations can be made to Trinity Church via https://www.trinityseattle.org/giving