Karen Baisinger

Karen S. Baisinger, age 76, living in Lincoln, died on March 26, 2022, in the comfort of her home, surrounded by her family. The cause of death was pancreatic cancer.



A memorial service will take place at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, March 31, 2022, at the Aldersgate United Methodist Church, 8320 South Street, Lincoln, Nebraska, with the Reverend Joseph Rafique presiding. A light lunch will take place immediately afterwards. A graveside service will be held at the Elwood Cemetery in Elwood, Nebraska at a later date to be announced.



Karen was born March 9, 1946, in Hastings, Nebraska to Florence (Young) Schneider and Donald Schneider of Kenesaw, Nebraska. She grew up in Kenesaw and attended Kenesaw High School, where she played on the volleyball team and was the drum majorette for the Blue Devil Marching Band. It was also there that she met David, her future husband of 55 years, as a sophomore in high school. She graduated as valedictorian in 1964.



Karen graduated from the University of Nebraska in 1968 with a degree in history and later obtained her master’s degree from Fort Hays State University. She began her career of more than three decades as a public school librarian in Holton, Kansas, followed by positions in Ohio, Nebraska, and again in Kansas. She spent the longest periods of time as the librarian in Wauneta, Nebraska (1976-1983) and in Hays, Kansas (1983-2000). David and Karen moved back to Kenesaw, Nebraska in 2006, where they lived until the summer of 2021.



Karen raised two daughters while working mostly full time as a school librarian, and she was an equally devoted grandmother. She was a skilled seamstress, knitter, quilter, and grower of African violets. She made her own wedding dress, and the prom dresses she made for her daughters were the envy of the other girls at Hays High School. Even though her daughters never picked up this skill, Karen passed on some of her knowledge by teaching her granddaughter how to sew. She made dozens of quilts, which her family and friends cherish, and she could be counted on to fix almost any knitting mistake. Karen was a wonderful cook and canned and baked for decades. She read voraciously and passed that love on to her children, especially her abiding affection for Laura Ingalls Wilder and her books. She also liked rock-n-roll music and fast cars with black wheels, and one of her daughter Jill’s earliest memories is going to the stock car races in Red Cloud.



Karen lived in Nebraska and Kansas for almost her entire life, but she encouraged her daughters to study abroad and travel widely, and she supported career choices that took them to the East Coast. Karen herself traveled with her family all over the United States and once to Northern Ireland and Scotland to visit her daughters while they were at school in Europe. Karen particularly loved the Rocky Mountains and visited them many times; she hiked and camped with her family, and accompanied them on many ski trips over the years. Karen and David also visited many places in the Dakotas, Nebraska, and Kansas, and they traveled on many weekends to Lincoln to see events at the Lied Center. Karen also spent many weeks staying with her grandchildren while her daughter and son-in-law traveled for work, so she grew to know Bethesda, Maryland, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania well. Karen was an avid tennis fan (always rooting for Roger Federer and James Blake), and she made trips to tournaments around the United States and Canada, including the U.S. Open in New York.



She is survived by her husband, David Baisinger; her daughter, Kendra Baisinger (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania); her daughter Jill Baisinger, son-in-law Keith Rosen, and grandchildren Benjamin and Clara Baisinger-Rosen (Bethesda, Maryland); her brothers Dwight (Vernal, Utah) and Richard Schneider (Kansas City, Missouri); and many cousins, in-laws, and other relatives.



Those who wish to honor Karen’s memory are encouraged to provide a memorial gift to either the Nancy Armitage Pancreas Cancer Clinical Research Professorship through the University of Nebraska Foundation or to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.