Cremation has taken place. Memorial service will proceed as planned at 2:00PM on Wednesay, April 5, 2023 at Wiebe Funeral Chapel, Morden. Donations may be made in Karen's memory to the Altona Community Memorial Health Centre.
Karen Lorraine Penner
1966 ~ 2023
Karen Lorraine Penner, “Toots” by Dad, Karen by most of us, Auntie Karen, Uncle Karen, Lorraine, but only if you were OK getting the death glare, as one nurse in Winnipeg did. Karen was born on December 10th, 1966. She was the middle child of 5 of us. 2 older brothers and 2 younger sisters. She attended the Elm Creek EMMC, was baptized on her confession of faith, by Wilbert Friesen in the Roseisle EMC in March of 1983 and later in life became a member of the St. Vital EMC. She graduated from Miami Collegiate in June of 1985.
Karen spent her first years in Elm Creek and then Roseisle. She spent lots of hours on the family farm while growing up. You could say that she was more of the type of person to rather hang out in the barn and farm work than she wanted to be in the house doing household chores. She would go along with whoever was picking up bales from the field and I can remember her coming home with a whole pocket full of baby mice to give to the kittens. She could pick up snakes and it was like no big deal.
Karen’s first car was a 1972 green Chevy Nova that mom and dad had bought for her. She loved that car. Oh the places that it that could go. Just at the end of its life, it didn’t go very far or very fast. We just hoped it would get us home. We were working in Morden at the sewing factory at the time. So it got a few miles from north of Roseisle to Morden and some Sunday nights cruising in Winkler.
Karen left her job at the sewing factory in august of 1988. She wanted to attend nursing school at ACC in Brandon. She did well and really enjoyed school. When her year was up and she was waiting for all of her paperwork to go through, she went on a 7 week tour of missionary life in Paraguay, South America. She came home with stories of adventures that she had and she was ready to go back. She worked at the Lion’s Prairie Manor in Portage while getting everything in order and getting ready to leave.
Then there was RGBI. (Rio Grande Bible Institute) in Texas. First was a year of language training. In her year of training she had some health issues but overcame those with surgery and continued on with the plans to head south. Once in Paraguay she soon got to work. Met many wonderful people and made lots of connections to a country that was going to be her home for a long time. Even to this day, she has continued to connect with the people she had gotten close to. She was a friend to many people and well loved by kids and adults. Her stories have kept many people entertained and she had lots of them.
Her dreams of going back to Paraguay after the furlough were dashed when that August, while at camp, she experienced a life altering event. She had a herniated disk rupture and her spinal cord was severed because the disk imploded instead of rupturing outward. After surgery, she had to learn a new way of life. It wasn’t an easy road and there was lots of pain and lots of doctors visits and medications.
She tried to contribute to life. She went to SBC for a semester. She worked in Neepawa for a few years. She helped people with disabilities find things to make their lives less difficult with health care aids. Karen moved to Winnipeg in 2005 to take training at Booth college and later switch to U of W. She was really trying to get a degree in sociology, but health issues got in the way of completing that task. She spent some time working at the Canadian Paraplegic Society. She loved helping people. Sometimes she gave great advice. Sometimes the advice she gave, she should have been practicing herself. She was a nurse she would always tell everyone. Giving advice, but practicing what you preach should go hand in hand.
As one of the siblings, I knew she loved her nieces and nephews and spent time with them. From lego to movies, crafting ideas, to the swimming pool in her apartment building in Winnipeg, to spending time at our homes, she would take care of the kids. It got more difficult and all of our kids got older and didn’t need the auntie Karen, or as Bentley calls her, Uncle Karen babysitting service. She loved them. She always told everyone, however, that I gave her the best birthday gift she could have ever asked for. Our oldest son, Jonathon, has the same birthday as her. They got to share one last birthday cake this past December, in the hospital in Altona.
Karen was a collector of many things and didn’t get rid of anything. She enjoyed reading and had a huge collection of books. Her favorites were autobiographies of people that had travelled their faith journey. Someone asked her if she had ever thought of writing her own story. “No, her stories would go with her when she was gone.” But I think her story will continue to live in each one of us who have been part of her life.
Since March 22nd of 2022 – when Karen went into the hospital, for basically what has been, for the rest of her time here on earth, she talked with patients in the hospital, she talked with the staff. She fought to get better, but her body had different ideas. When she told me of her decision to discontinue having anymore antibiotics to deal with all the infections she was having, there was such a peace in her voice and about her. She felt that was one thing she did have control of. Although it didn’t happen the way she wanted. She went off antibiotics on January 16th and was fully prepared to be gone by the end of January. She didn’t and she continued to live and her body did weird things and it was surviving and that messed with her because she wanted to go and see Jesus. She finally got to leave all of the pain and sickness behind on March 29th when she got to see her dream of seeing Jesus become a reality.
Karen is survived by her mom, Mary Penner of Morden, Brothers Larry (Elenor) Penner, of Coaldale, Alberta, Brian (Jen) Penner, of Carberry, Sisters Ang (Darren) Nickel of Altona, Phyl (Marty) Marin, of Morden. Nephews, Kyle, wife Crystal, Caleb, Noah, Jonathon, Zachary, Owen and Bentley. Nieces Chelsey husband Eric and Rachel, husband Jordan. Great Nephews, Ethan, Andrew and Levi. Great Nieces, Natalie, Ainsley and Mikayla. Karen was predeceased by her father, George in February 2014.
She also leaves behind her really good friends, Carla Harder, Val Zacharias, Faith Krahn, Sharon Voth, Sharon Zacharias. These women were good for her soul. They loved her, they spent hours in conversation, and they supported her. They were important to her and as a family we want to thank them for their support and love for her.
We are also very thankful to the staff at Altona Hospital. Your love and care for Karen over these last 6 months has been amazing. She loved you all. You teased and cared for her. You sang and danced for her. You made her laugh and encouraged her and through her depressing days. You reminded her that she was a nurse when there was something she was doing that she shouldn’t have been doing. You showed your concern for her when she was at some of her lowest days. Altona has an amazing hospital, with exceptional staff.
We also want to say thank you to the congregation of the St. Vital EMC. Thank you for your care and love for Karen. You cared for her. You checked up on her. You were her church family and she loved being a part of the church. Jerry, thank you for all of your pastoral hospital visits. Your prayers with and for her. We appreciate you.
Thank you for all for coming to be a part of todays celebration of life for Karen. You have all been impacted by Karen in some way. Whether it’s family or friends, she would have told you in these last days, you were important to her and she loved you. She would also probably ask you if you knew Jesus and if He was part of your everyday life. Thank you for the prayers, some of you that could visit with her, the cards that were sent and the support that you are to us as a family.
Although death may separate us from each other, we have hope in the One who has created us and knit us together for a purpose. Each day Karen struggled in the last months was a reminder, that as long as we have breath from God, we have purpose. Our prayer, as a family is that you live in that purpose and use it. It’s God’s gift.
Karen Lorraine Penner
1966 ~ 2023
Karen Lorraine Penner, “Toots” by Dad, Karen by most of us, Auntie Karen, Uncle Karen, Lorraine, but only if you were OK getting the death glare, as one nurse in Winnipeg did. Karen was born on December 10th, 1966. She was the middle child of 5 of us. 2 older brothers and 2 younger sisters. She attended the Elm Creek EMMC, was baptized on her confession of faith, by Wilbert Friesen in the Roseisle EMC in March of 1983 and later in life became a member of the St. Vital EMC. She graduated from Miami Collegiate in June of 1985.
Karen spent her first years in Elm Creek and then Roseisle. She spent lots of hours on the family farm while growing up. You could say that she was more of the type of person to rather hang out in the barn and farm work than she wanted to be in the house doing household chores. She would go along with whoever was picking up bales from the field and I can remember her coming home with a whole pocket full of baby mice to give to the kittens. She could pick up snakes and it was like no big deal.
Karen’s first car was a 1972 green Chevy Nova that mom and dad had bought for her. She loved that car. Oh the places that it that could go. Just at the end of its life, it didn’t go very far or very fast. We just hoped it would get us home. We were working in Morden at the sewing factory at the time. So it got a few miles from north of Roseisle to Morden and some Sunday nights cruising in Winkler.
Karen left her job at the sewing factory in august of 1988. She wanted to attend nursing school at ACC in Brandon. She did well and really enjoyed school. When her year was up and she was waiting for all of her paperwork to go through, she went on a 7 week tour of missionary life in Paraguay, South America. She came home with stories of adventures that she had and she was ready to go back. She worked at the Lion’s Prairie Manor in Portage while getting everything in order and getting ready to leave.
Then there was RGBI. (Rio Grande Bible Institute) in Texas. First was a year of language training. In her year of training she had some health issues but overcame those with surgery and continued on with the plans to head south. Once in Paraguay she soon got to work. Met many wonderful people and made lots of connections to a country that was going to be her home for a long time. Even to this day, she has continued to connect with the people she had gotten close to. She was a friend to many people and well loved by kids and adults. Her stories have kept many people entertained and she had lots of them.
Her dreams of going back to Paraguay after the furlough were dashed when that August, while at camp, she experienced a life altering event. She had a herniated disk rupture and her spinal cord was severed because the disk imploded instead of rupturing outward. After surgery, she had to learn a new way of life. It wasn’t an easy road and there was lots of pain and lots of doctors visits and medications.
She tried to contribute to life. She went to SBC for a semester. She worked in Neepawa for a few years. She helped people with disabilities find things to make their lives less difficult with health care aids. Karen moved to Winnipeg in 2005 to take training at Booth college and later switch to U of W. She was really trying to get a degree in sociology, but health issues got in the way of completing that task. She spent some time working at the Canadian Paraplegic Society. She loved helping people. Sometimes she gave great advice. Sometimes the advice she gave, she should have been practicing herself. She was a nurse she would always tell everyone. Giving advice, but practicing what you preach should go hand in hand.
As one of the siblings, I knew she loved her nieces and nephews and spent time with them. From lego to movies, crafting ideas, to the swimming pool in her apartment building in Winnipeg, to spending time at our homes, she would take care of the kids. It got more difficult and all of our kids got older and didn’t need the auntie Karen, or as Bentley calls her, Uncle Karen babysitting service. She loved them. She always told everyone, however, that I gave her the best birthday gift she could have ever asked for. Our oldest son, Jonathon, has the same birthday as her. They got to share one last birthday cake this past December, in the hospital in Altona.
Karen was a collector of many things and didn’t get rid of anything. She enjoyed reading and had a huge collection of books. Her favorites were autobiographies of people that had travelled their faith journey. Someone asked her if she had ever thought of writing her own story. “No, her stories would go with her when she was gone.” But I think her story will continue to live in each one of us who have been part of her life.
Since March 22nd of 2022 – when Karen went into the hospital, for basically what has been, for the rest of her time here on earth, she talked with patients in the hospital, she talked with the staff. She fought to get better, but her body had different ideas. When she told me of her decision to discontinue having anymore antibiotics to deal with all the infections she was having, there was such a peace in her voice and about her. She felt that was one thing she did have control of. Although it didn’t happen the way she wanted. She went off antibiotics on January 16th and was fully prepared to be gone by the end of January. She didn’t and she continued to live and her body did weird things and it was surviving and that messed with her because she wanted to go and see Jesus. She finally got to leave all of the pain and sickness behind on March 29th when she got to see her dream of seeing Jesus become a reality.
Karen is survived by her mom, Mary Penner of Morden, Brothers Larry (Elenor) Penner, of Coaldale, Alberta, Brian (Jen) Penner, of Carberry, Sisters Ang (Darren) Nickel of Altona, Phyl (Marty) Marin, of Morden. Nephews, Kyle, wife Crystal, Caleb, Noah, Jonathon, Zachary, Owen and Bentley. Nieces Chelsey husband Eric and Rachel, husband Jordan. Great Nephews, Ethan, Andrew and Levi. Great Nieces, Natalie, Ainsley and Mikayla. Karen was predeceased by her father, George in February 2014.
She also leaves behind her really good friends, Carla Harder, Val Zacharias, Faith Krahn, Sharon Voth, Sharon Zacharias. These women were good for her soul. They loved her, they spent hours in conversation, and they supported her. They were important to her and as a family we want to thank them for their support and love for her.
We are also very thankful to the staff at Altona Hospital. Your love and care for Karen over these last 6 months has been amazing. She loved you all. You teased and cared for her. You sang and danced for her. You made her laugh and encouraged her and through her depressing days. You reminded her that she was a nurse when there was something she was doing that she shouldn’t have been doing. You showed your concern for her when she was at some of her lowest days. Altona has an amazing hospital, with exceptional staff.
We also want to say thank you to the congregation of the St. Vital EMC. Thank you for your care and love for Karen. You cared for her. You checked up on her. You were her church family and she loved being a part of the church. Jerry, thank you for all of your pastoral hospital visits. Your prayers with and for her. We appreciate you.
Thank you for all for coming to be a part of todays celebration of life for Karen. You have all been impacted by Karen in some way. Whether it’s family or friends, she would have told you in these last days, you were important to her and she loved you. She would also probably ask you if you knew Jesus and if He was part of your everyday life. Thank you for the prayers, some of you that could visit with her, the cards that were sent and the support that you are to us as a family.
Although death may separate us from each other, we have hope in the One who has created us and knit us together for a purpose. Each day Karen struggled in the last months was a reminder, that as long as we have breath from God, we have purpose. Our prayer, as a family is that you live in that purpose and use it. It’s God’s gift.