Karen J. Lipper
June 30, 1948 – February 1, 2015
Karen J. (Skelly) Lipper, a 24-year Monument resident, passed away at her home with her husband at her side after a long battle with cancer. She was truly brave in facing all the serious medical conditions that she had suffered since her mid-twenties.
Karen was a retired Assistant Data Processing Manager for the Brockton Housing Authority. She had also worked in Elder Services and as a bookkeeper prior to that. After moving to Monument she started a part time retirement career as a waitress. Working in the local restaurants provided her with an enjoyable change of pace from an office job and she seemed to know everybody in town quickly.
Her hometown was Brockton, Massachusetts. She graduated from Brockton High School in 1966 and married her high school sweetheart, Jim, on April 3, 1970. They celebrated 44-years of a loving marriage this past April.
Karen enjoyed jewelry-making, traveling and camping. She and her husband had visited all of the lower 48 states, with their dogs in their motor home. She was a member of SPAAMFAA and enjoyed riding on her husband’s antique fire truck in the Monument 4th of July Parades. She enjoyed her dogs and the birds and other wildlife that passed through in her yard over the years and never tired of her view of the mountains.
She is survived by her husband, Jim (James); her brother, Phillip D. Skelly of Newberry, Florida; her honorary sister and true friend, Kathy Shepler of Monument; sister-in-law, Kathy M. Brodil (Arthur) of Brockton, Massachusetts; and brother-in-law, Kevin P. Lipper (Denise) of Bridgewater, Massachusetts. Karen was preceded in death by her parents, John L. Skelly and Dorothy A. Skelly; her brother, John A. Skelly; and parents-in-law, Margaret A. Lipper and Bob (George) Lipper of Brockton, Massachusetts.
A funeral Mass will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, February 6, 2015 at St. Peter Catholic Church, 55 North Jefferson Street, Monument, CO with a reception to follow at the church.