Karen Alice Killion

Karen A. Killion, 86, of St. Paul, formerly of Palmer, died Saturday, Nov. 2nd, 2024, at Brookefield Park in St. Paul.

Liturgy of the Word services will be 11 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024, at Sts. Peter & Paul Catholic Church in St. Paul. Rev. Vince Parsons will officiate. Burial will be 1 p.m. in Rose Hill Cemetery in Palmer.

Visitation will be Wednesday from 5 to 7 p.m. at Peters Funeral Home.

Memorials are suggested to the family for later designation.

Peters Funeral Home of St. Paul is assisting the family.

Karen was born on Oct. 26, 1938, at Palmer, the daughter of John and Alice (Wegner) Hettrich. She grew up on a farm west of Palmer in the Gage Valley area. She attended Gage Valley country school and Palmer Public School and was a 1957 graduate of Palmer High School.

She was united in marriage to Elmer Jay “Junior” Killion on Oct. 26, 1957, in Palmer. The couple lived in Palmer their entire married life. Karen was a homemaker and did daycare for children out of her home. In 1977, she became a nurse’s aide at the Coolidge Center in Palmer until 1997. She later worked as a home health aide in the area.

Junior died on Dec. 16, 2005. She continued to live in Palmer until 2013 when she moved to St. Paul, where she lived the rest of her life.

She was a member of the Palmerettes and the American Legion Auxiliary Unit 120 of Palmer.

She enjoyed gardening, flowers, violets and playing cards. She loved music and singing, thrift shopping with her sisters and going to the Palmer and St. Paul Senior Centers.

She is survived by her children and spouses, John and Sandy Killion of Doniphan, Amy and Dale Davis of Palmer, Glen and Michele Killion of St. Paul and Rose Rowe and Cory Panko of Cook; 6 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren; sister and brother-in-law, Judith and Jim Rose of St. Paul; brother-in-law, Charles “Pooch” Roper of Lincoln, brothers-in-law Ernie Shelton of York and Howard and Karon Killion of Lincoln.

In addition to her husband, Junior, she was preceded in death by her parents; infant son, Kenneth J. Killion; grandson, Joseph Davis; sisters and brother-in-law, Phyllis Joan Hettrich, Glenna Roper, and Carol and Dick Lemmerman; and brother and sister-in-law, Richard L. “Dick” and Carolyn Hettrich.