Karen Deane Simper

Karen Deane Simper passed away on September 13, 2023, at the Uintah Care Center, just ten days shy of her 91st birthday. She was born to Walter B. and Norma Luella Simper on September 24, 1932 in Vernal, Utah. She grew up in Vernal. Karen graduated from Uintah High School in 1950, and almost immediately moved to Salt Lake City. She spent her life there, working for General Electric. Upon retirement from GE, she took a part time job working for Sterling Furniture and also served as Manager for Bristlecone Pines Apartments. Karen loved river rafting and spent many years running the Green, Yampa, Snake, Colorado, and pretty much every other running stream of water in the West. We often teased her that she would run the irrigation ditch if we would let her. She loved traveling, particularly after she discovered cruises. She travelled worldwide on her cruises, enjoying the trip, the people, the new sites, and the treasures she found along the way. She loved to dance. She never missed a Friday night dance in all the years she was in Salt Lake. Later in life, she discovered rock crawling in Moab and was hooked. She loved that new adventure as well. She held many callings for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and enjoyed all of them. As she started to decline in later years, she moved back to Vernal to be near her sister, Lita, and her family, eventually becoming a resident of the Beehive Home in Maeser, and then the Uintah Care Center. Eventually, her sister became a resident at the care center and her roommate. As a family, we would like to express our deepest gratitude to the Beehive Homes and Uintah Care Center and their loving staff for taking such remarkable care of our sweet, sweet Aunt "KD". We will always and forever miss our beloved Aunt Karen...the adventures she would take us on as kids; the "getting sun tans" in the back yard; shopping trips; ad infinitum. Her loving personality and big hugs and kisses will always be memories we treasure. Karen is preceded in death by her parents Walter B. & Norma; brother and sister-in-law; Jim, and Maureen Simper; and sister and brother-in-law; Lita, and Raymond Bullock and several grand-nieces and nephews. Karen is survived by her nieces and nephews who she loved infinitely. She will never be forgotten for the love and adventures she inspired. Funeral services for Karen will be held Monday September 18, 2023 at 11:00am at the Phillips Ashley Valley Funeral Home. Visitation for family and friends will be held Monday from 9:45am ~ 10:45am all at the mortuary. Interment will be in the Dry Fork Cemetery under the direction of the Phillips Ashley Valley Funeral Home.