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July 20, 1935-Dec. 5, 2020
Karen Joan Garrison
Woolard, 85, Minot, ND,
died Saturday, December
5, 2020, in a Minot Health
Care Center.
She was born of Tho-
mas D. Garrison and Car-
rie B. (Tomczyk) Garrison
in Chicago, Illinois, July
20, 1935. She moved to
Minot with her parents in
time to start grade school
and graduated from Minot
High in 1953. Karen at-
tended North Dakota State
University majoring in
Speech and English, gra-
duating in 1957 and com-
pleting her master's de-
gree there in Education
and English in 1965.
While at NDSU, she was
active in several organiza-tions including the Edwin
Booth Drama Society and
Kappa Delta Sorority.
Continuing education was
a lifetime pursuit, and she
received graduate fellow-
ships at the University of
Wyoming, University of
the Pacific, and the
University of Vermont, as
well as obtaining degrees
in Library Science and
Special Education.
Karen taught high
school all around the na-
tion for over 40 years, but
after falling in love with
the community of Makoti,
she kept it as her home
base spending her last
working decades teaching
at North Shore, White
Shield and Plaza. She ab-
solutely loved serving the
people of the Three Affili-ated Tribes.
As an independent sin-
gle mother, she found fe-
male camaraderie and
support in being a part of
many teams and clubs,
enjoying golf, bowling,
bridge, TOPS, Homemak-
ers, theatrical arts, and
senior exercise classes at
the YMCA and Clarence
Parker. She had a sure but
quiet faith that grew
stronger toward her final
years while attending Im-
manuel Baptist Church.
Karen loved to cook, gar-
den, and collect pottery
and you could always find
her reading a good mys-
tery novel. She loved trav-
eling, especially to Great
Britain, and was en-
tranced with the romance
and mystery of the
Knights of the Round
Table and Camelot. After
she retired and moved
back to her hometown of
Minot, she worked for the
American Red Cross, was
a Red Hat, got her dog fix
as a Souris Valley
Humane Society
volunteer, and enjoyed in-
volvement with the North
Dakota Retired Teachers
Association.
Karen is survived by
her only child, Stephanie
(David) Gregg, Red Feath-
er Lakes, CO; grandchil-
dren, DJ (Shelby) Gregg,
Loveland, CO; and Angeli-na Gregg, Fort Collins,
CO; and niece, Dawn
Garrison Smart, Las Ve-
gas, NV.
A small Celebration of
Life will be scheduled in
2021 with her final resting
place at Rosehill Memori-al Park Cemetery near
other Garrison family
members who have
passed before, including
her grandparents, parents,
brother, Vernon, and his
two daughters, Dori and
Daphne.
Stephanie said she ima-
gines her mom reciting
this dramatic interpreta-
tion of Merlin's speech
from Camelot as her final
goodbye. "Oh, Death! So
it's you! Must you steal
my life now? Couldn't you
have waited a bit longer?
Wait! Have I told them
everything they should
know? It's all gone. My
life's work teaching and
sharing all I know is gone.
Goodbye, Friends. My
memory of the future is
gone. I know no more the
sorrows and joys before
you. I can only wish for
you in ignorance, like
everyone else. Reign long
and reign happily. Oh,
and Friends! Remember to
think!"
Those wishing to sign
the online register and
share memories may ac-
cess the online obituaries
section at
(www.thompsonlarson.
com).