Karen Lillian McGarrah Kingery, 68, passed away December 29, 2023 at her Montesano home, gathered in the arms of her beloved husband and family. She was born February 20, 1955 in Forks, Washington to Stanley and Annie McGarrah.
Karen attended Hunter’s Prairie School, Elma Schools, and Montesano High School (class of 1973), then graduated from Grays Harbor College, where she earned her Licensed Practical Nursing degree. She had yearned to be a nurse since childhood, and she devoted her life to caring for others, starting with Candy Stripers, working at Puyallup Hospital, Beechwood Nursing Home, Woodland Terrace, Dr. Lu Ophthalmology, Dr. Anderson Ob-Gyn, Dr. Martens at Coastal Womens Health, and Montesano Health and Rehab where she served as the Charge Nurse. She also became a certified caretaker and a First Responder, organizing a volunteer crisis preparation team in her neighborhood.
She married Richard Gillham in 1973 and they had four children, living for a time in Wrangell, Alaska. After their divorce, she married Orlen Kingery April 15, 1984. They raised their combined family of six children together, happily celebrating 39 years of marriage last April.
She enjoyed traveling, camping, gardening and preserving, cooking and baking, living next door to her parents, and spending time with family and friends. She sewed, quilted, crocheted and knitted, selling her custom window jewelry at local craft fairs. Her summer Hawaiian luau party became a beloved tradition.
Karen is survived by her husband Orlen Kingery, who resides at their home in Montesano; her mother Annie McGarrah, age 96, of Montesano; sons Matthew Gillham (Rhonda) of Chehalis, WA, Phillip Gillham (Melanie) of Hoquiam, WA, Karl Gillham of Hoquiam, WA, and Steve Kingery of Shelton, WA; and daughters Geneva Gillham Birdsall (Steve) of Central Park, WA and Anna Kingery Fulton of Westport, WA; nineteen grandchildren and one great-grandchild; brothers Terry (Alice) McGarrah of Montesano, WA, Mike McGarrah of Olympia, WA, Patrick (Shannon) McGarrah of Salem, OR, and sister Kathryn McGarrah (John Wilson) of Placitas, NM, and many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her father Stanley and sister Patsy McGarrah.
Karen will be missed by everyone in her family, who will always remember her beauty, her generosity, her wry sense of humor and easy laughter, and her loving care for her parents. Her 68 years have been a gift and a treasure.
She will be interred in the Kingery family plot at the Satsop Cemetery on Sunday, January 14 at 1:00 p.m. Afterward, family and friends will gather at 2:00 p.m. for a celebration of Karen’s life at the Moose Lodge, 3 Monte Elma Road, Montesano, WA.
