Karen Lou Perry
Karen Lou Perry passed away on April 7, 2026, after a recent illness. She was born in 1933 in Aurora to Vernon and Florence Hagarity and was the youngest of three sisters. As a young girl, Karen moved to Beatrice where she graduated from high school. In 1952, she was attending college at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln when she met Richard Perry at a summer picnic. They fell in love and were married six months later in Gibbon. Together they created and raised a family of three sons and a daughter and were married for 68 years.
Karen supported Richard as he pursued a career with the Hormel Foods Corporation. She dutifully moved the family to Denver, Colorado; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Houston, Texas; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Austin, Minnesota. In 1975, they moved to Scottsdale, Arizona, and continued to live in the greater Phoenix, Arizona, area for the rest of their lives.
They most recently resided at the Sagewood Retirement Community in north Phoenix, Arizona.
Later in life, Karen earned an associate’s degree in accounting from Scottsdale Community College and was hired by the law firm of Bennett, Carmichael and Kennedy, L.L.P. where she was a bookkeeper for many years. Karen was an active member of P.E.O. Chapters in Carefree and Sagewood, Arizona. She was formerly a member of the Desert Hills Presbyterian Church in Carefree, Arizona.
Her many interests included collecting Mexican pottery, painting, reading and scrapbooking.
She will long be remembered by family and friends for her very active mind, caring manner and good humor.
Karen is survived by her four adult children, David Perry and his wife Carolyn, of Paducah, Kentucky, Lisa Yoder and her husband Larry, of San Diego, California, Mark Perry and his wife Patricia, of San Diego, California, and Clark Perry and his wife Leslie, of Porter Ranch, California; grandchildren, Emily West and her husband Austin, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, Matthew Perry and his wife McKayla, of Savannah, Georgia, Rachel Perry of Lincoln, Megan Perry, of San Diego, California, and Jenna Perry, of Los Angeles, California; nephew, Terry Culwell (Connie), of Lincoln; nieces, Margaret Culwell, of Boulder, Colorado, and Karen Ebadi, of Berkeley, California; and nephew, Kurt Bjorkland (Kathy), of Rancho Palos Verdes, California.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Richard Perry; her parents; and two sisters, Virginia Culwell, of Lincoln, and Juanita Bjorklund, of Livermore, California.
Karen and Richard will be interned in Gibbon where a graveside service for family is planned. Donations in memory of Karen can be made to the P.E.O. Foundation or any charity of choice.