Karen Town

KAREN TOWN

Coralville

Karen Hansen Town, 73, of Coralville, formerly of Grinnell, died Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2014, at Hawthorne Assisted Living Center in Coralville. Mass of the Resurrection will be 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 30, at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Grinnell, with the Rev. Ron Hodges, pastor of the church, officiating. Music will be provided by Marilyn Kriegel, organist, Milton Severe, vocalist, and St. Mary's Choir. Casket bearers will be Tom Trachta, Nick Maybanks, Jon Maybanks, Sam Sutliff, Aran Parillo and Andy Whitters. Interment will be at Hazelwood Cemetery in Grinnell. Friends may call at Smith Funeral Home in Grinnell beginning at 2 p.m. Monday, and the family will be present at the funeral home from 5 to 7 p.m. Monday.

Memorials may be directed to the Drake Community Library or to St. Mary's Catholic Church Religion Education Department and sent in care of Smith Funeral Home, P.O. Box 368, Grinnell, IA 50112.

Karen was born May 8, 1941, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to Holger and Sophia (Kuncl) Hansen. She was raised in Cedar Rapids and graduated from Cedar Rapids Jefferson High School. Following high school, she received a B.A. degree from Mount Mercy College in Cedar Rapids.

Karen lived in Cedar Rapids, where she raised her three children and worked as a school teacher in parochial schools and in the advertising department at Armstrong's Department Store.

On April 12, 1975, she was married to Dr. Duane Town in Grinnell. Karen was employed at Grinnell Regional Medical Center, the Iowa Valley Community College and for Bates Flowers.

She was an active member of St. Mary's Catholic Church and a member of the Altar and Rosary Society, Liturgy Committee and the Parish Council. She also taught CCD classes and was director of St. Mary's Choir. Karen was a member of the Priscilla Club, Marian Study Club and Grinnell Regional Medical Center's Auxiliary.

She was a devoted member of the Stewart Library board of trustees and was instrumental in the fund drive to construct the Drake Community Library.

Survivors include her children, Christopher Sutliff of Grinnell, Caroline (Kim) Kipp-Sutliff of Iowa City and Sara (Aran) Parillo of Boston, Mass.; two grandchildren, Samuel Sutliff and Amelia Parillo; and four sisters, Susan (George) Maybanks of Cedar Rapids, Rosemary Soukup of Omaha, Neb., Carol (Ron) Emerson of Grinnell and Marjorie Frankel of San Francisco, Calif.

She was preceded in death by her husband, her parents and two sisters, Marie Trachta and Barbara Studer.