Karen Fowler

External Link to Karen's Obituary: https://www.davidcbrownfh.com/obituaries/Karen-A-Fowler?obId=30504235

External Link to Tribute Video: https://youtu.be/AG2uCDDdU1A

Karen's Eulogy

Many of you have known Karen for a very long time, some for a much shorter time, and some may have never met her, yet have been influenced by her in some way. Maybe through David, maybe through Devin, Morgan, Megan, or Katelyn. Maybe just from stories you’ve heard about her from one of us or from other family members. Karen has had great impact on so many in her life. Not because she was famous or always even seen, but because of her kindness, her gentle spirit, and, yes, even her stubbornness. We would like to take a moment to tell you all about her. Some know much of her story, some only a small piece. We can’t even pretend to tell you everything she has done in her life. There are things that even we, as her family, can’t possibly know or even understand. Karen was my wife and my best friend. She was our children’s mom. She was special in so many ways. Karen grew up with three older brothers: Stephen, Mike, and Mark. While I know they love and protected her, I also believe they probably tormented her some too. That love, protection and even torment helped shape her into an incredibly loving, caring and strong person that she was. I first met Karen at the Belleville High School pool in 1983. I didn’t know her, or even who she was but I was taken in by her blue eyes and her ever-present smile. We were both swimmers at the time. Lucky for me, it gave me a lot of time to see her, get to know about her, gather my nerve to talk to her and to finally get to know her. I couldn’t have been luckier. She has been the love of my life ever since. Karen was an accomplished swimmer. She held almost every record in the Belleville Tiger Swim Club. Most have probably never been broken. To this day, she still holds two varsity level records at Belleville High School. She had others, but they have been beaten over the years. One of them twice by her own daughters, Morgan and Megan. What was her take on her records being broken? “Good, records are set to be broken.” Karen went on from high school to attend Oakland University on a full-ride scholarship for swimming. She was part of an All-American free-style relay team in her freshman year. Karen was an Olympic level swimmer, competing, even in high school, against others who would go on to make the Olympics. Unfortunately, Karen’s swimming career was cut short by an injury she couldn’t fully recover from. I’m sure it upset her, but she took it in stride and moved on. Karen transferred to Eastern Michigan University and continued working toward her goal of being an Occupational Therapist. We were married in June of 1989. Karen suffered her first exacerbation and was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in February of 1990 and wasn’t able to walk well on her own from then on. We were in shock. We had some very bad days, but Karen, being Karen, looked forward, helped me get past it and we moved on. Karen continued her education and graduated with a B.S. and became an Occupational Therapist. She loved helping others. She worked at the Veteran’s Administration hospital in Ann Arbor. She loved her job. She loved talking with those she helped. Especially the older men. Their stories were her favorites. She continued to struggle with MS, but refused to let it stop her. Always having a positive attitude and her smile. Even as the MS progressed, she knew she wanted to have children. Devin came along in 1995. Even when having to use a wheelchair, she was his primary caregiver every day. Doing everything he needed. Inventing ways to get herself and him around the house, and to care for him. One wasn’t enough for her though. She wanted more, but doctors said she wouldn’t be able to carry a child again. Never giving up, Karen had a solution for that. She felt led to adopt a little girl from China. It was a two-year process involving many, many steps. Morgan, born in 2000, came home to us in September of 2001 at 11 months old. Then, to our surprise, Karen proved the doctors wrong. Two weeks after bringing Morgan home, we found out Karen was 17 weeks pregnant. Megan arrived in March of 2002. Now we had a six year old and two in diapers. Karen never missed a beat. Her MS was making everything more difficult, but she didn’t give up. Her kids kept her going. While her MS progressed, making it impossible for her to be a ‘normal’ mom later on, especially for the girls, she was still a part of our kids lives. If she couldn’t ‘do’ for them, she could encourage them, pray for them, support them and battle for them. She was always part of the decision-making process, always protecting her kids. They were her priority and she loved them dearly. Over the years, Karen has worked in the AWANA program at Calvary Bible Church as a leader of the girl’s groups. She has shared her testimony at different events for the younger girls, teens, and moms. Karen never shied away from talking about her Faith, her life, her disease, anything really. If she felt she could be a help to others, she shared and did whatever she could. We’ve learned, over the years, of many, many people who Karen inspired through difficult times. Some of them knew us well, some just in passing, and others were complete strangers to us, but let us know through others that Karen had inspired them through their own difficult times. What we have most often heard was that seeing Karen do all she did, with a smile on her face and always a positive attitude, helped them through their own difficult times. We’ll never know how many Karen touched with her life, but we know that God gave her the strength to persevere so that she could share her joy for life with others. While we are saddened by her passing, we as her family, know that she is now walking, swimming, singing and celebrating in Heaven, free from the body that failed her. Please celebrate that with us. She will be with us forever in our hearts and minds.