Karen was born and raised in Northumberland County and has lived here all of her life except for a few years away while she took her training as a Registered Nurse at Peterborough Civic Hospital, and while she worked at St. Michael’s hospital and then at the Grace Hospital where she took her O.R. training.

She and her husband Michael moved to Cobourg in 1975 when they started a General Contracting company. Karen worked at the Cobourg District General Hospital in the O.R. and Recovery Room. She later joined the V.O.N. and later became a stay at home Mum to her three children, Trenholm, Holly and Hope.

Karen was a charter and executive member of the Cobourg Inner Wheel, and is an active member of the Rotary Club of Cobourg where she is a past director, assistant secretary and long time liaison with the Cobourg Collegiate Institute Interact Club. She was on the steering committee, and volunteer for one of the first Habitat for Humanity Women Build, volunteers at an elementary school two mornings a week, and is a long time member of the Caring for Generations Committee at NHH.

Karen and Michael enjoy spending time at their cottage and their four “perfect” grandchildren.