Karen Deanna Johnson

Karen Deanna Johnson died peacefully at her home in Kingston on May 10, 2026, at the age of 71. In 2021 she was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. She faced this challenge with the same strength and wisdom that she always brought to life. Despite enduring endless medical procedures and side effects of chemo and radiation, she lived her remaining years fully. She visited friends in France and Australia and made a lifetime trip to the little Italian town of Castel di Ieri where her grandparents had been born. She was a nurturing, loving “amma” (grandma) to her three grandchildren. She continued to climb on her tractor and mow the pastures on the farm, and she kept working with her horses as long as her strength allowed.

Karen was born in Anchorage, Alaska to Ray and Elizabeth Reidinger on October 21,1954. She always enjoyed telling people that she was “born in an igloo.” She was the second child, following her brother, Kurt. The family soon moved to Spanaway, near Tacoma, where she was raised next door to McChord Air Force Base.

She had a very free-range childhood with her gang of neighborhood friends. She was a “horse girl” from the very start and was ecstatic when she got her first horse. She and her buddies would go on long rides and have many adventures.

A key experience for her in high school was her trip as an exchange student to Vera Cruz. She loved Mexico and traveling. Her mom, a hairdresser who owned her own shop, also took Karen on several memorable trips to Europe for industry shows.

After high school Karen went to Evergreen in the new college’s first year. She found that it was too unstructured for her, and she eventually transferred to WSU. There she received a degree in Business Administration. This was followed by a varied career that included managing a health food store, doing retail work in a gift shop, selling real estate, and working as an esthetician, licensed massage therapist, and energy worker.

Two enduring threads through her winding path were her abiding interest in health and her love of helping people. She had a heart that was open to everyone. She often said that she was “a connector” and what she enjoyed most was helping to bring people together with who or what they needed.

She did not seek or particularly enjoy the spotlight. She was independent and not afraid to go where her intuition called, whether others understood it or not. She lived long enough to find many of her “alternative” interests like yoga, energy work, and “natural food” accepted by the mainstream.

In 1980 she met her future husband, Bob, at Skipper’s Tavern in Eastlake. After several years together in Seattle, where Blake was born, they moved to Bremerton and then to Bainbridge Island. By then, Erik had come along, and Karen devoted herself to being a mom.

She was a gifted community builder and, with a group of other moms who became life- long friends, she helped found the Flying Geese food co-op. She home-schooled her boys for several years and helped to start a small Waldorf program. She was a “mother bear,” unstoppable when she felt her kids needed something.

She got back into horses as her kids got a little older, and she did a lot of trail riding, first on her rescue thoroughbred, Austin, and then on Jet and Fin. She studied horsemanship continually and devoted herself to groundwork. For Karen it was all about the relationship with the horse. She loved animals, and she grieved the loss of each of her horses, and of her beloved boxer, Thor.

Karen’s last months were marked by a family tragedy. Her younger son, Erik, died suddenly in December 2025 at the age of 37. She did her best to face this loss, but it took a further toll on her already weakening health. She was looking forward to being reunited with him at the end.

Karen is survived by her husband, Bob; her remaining son, Blake (Lacey); her brother Kurt (Sheri); her grandchildren, Niko, Leo, and Ruby; and her many friends.

A celebration of her life will be planned in several months.

Arrangements entrusted to Cook Family Funeral Home of Bainbridge Island, WA.