This is a special tribute to a special life. My mother lived her life as I wish to live mine; finding what it is that you love and going after it full force. She has taught me so many things about love and life and the power of a smile. Everything I am today is a reflection of her love for me and her caring that I become a wonderful person. I owe my life to her...and my spirit which will some day soar again with her own. She will be missed more then words can say, and every beat of my heart will remind me of who she was to me.
She was born Karen Lentz in Rock Island, Ill. The daughter of Nicholas and Anna. She grew up attending a few schools, finally graduating from Our Lady of the Peace in St. Paul, Minn in 1960. Upon graduation she went to college at Winona State University in Winona, Minn to study education. She graduated in 1964 with her degree in elementary education and soon moved back home to pursue her love of children. She began working at Hamilton Elementary in Moline, Ill. In 1966 she married my father, Larry, and their lifetime of love began. It has been a love filled with laughter and fun and one that has inspired me to achieve something so fantastic as theirs. She had a son in 1972, my brother Steve and then had a bouncing little baby girl in 1974, Me!
At the time of her death she had just retired from teaching Special Education at Rock Island HS. I had thought with her finding more time for herself she would start to feel so much better and that we would have more time to spend together. She always found time for her children. These last few weeks were a surprise to us all and very trying on us, but I can't help but being thankful for the time that I was allowed to have with her.
Never have I met a sweeter person or one more caring as she. I know she is in a better place now, and that is hard to think about, but it is what keeps me going. May she always find her peace and happiness and may the light of the heavens shine down on her angelic face...
Our family would like to thank you for all your prayers, thoughts and sympathies. They are greatly appreciated and we are glad to know we have such caring friends and family in our time of loss and grief.
