Obituary of Karen Louise Starr

Karen Louise Starr, "Starr", passed away peacefully in her sleep on January 8th, 2021. She had been at Cove's Edge in Damariscotta, Maine for a short time due to her declining health. Starr was born in Baltimore, Maryland on September 29, 1946. Her family moved to Florida when she was 9. When she was 20, she moved to New Mexico, where she lived for most of the next 50 years. Her health eventually required her to move to a lower altitude, and while she enjoyed spending the last few years with her daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter in Maine, her heart was always in Northern New Mexico. Starr held a wide variety of titles and jobs over the years, from kindergarten teacher to Teacher Corps administrator, organic gardener and goat herder to interior design professional. When she was seven, a book about making dolls and doll clothes set her on a life-long journey of sewing in many forms and the craft and creation of amazing works of fabric art. She was predeceased by her parents, Katherine and Buddy Starr. She is survived by her daughter, Dancer Jensen-Starr, son-in-law Ben Frey, and granddaughter Eleanor Frey of Newcastle, Maine; sister Donna Oakes of Arizona, brother Albert Starr & Peg MacNicol and nephew Charles Starr of Oregon, sister Mary Starr Smith of Nebraska, nephew David Oakes & Amy Stoklas-Oakes and grand-nephews Cam, Tevel, and Keefe Oakes; and by her many dear friends from New Mexico. No services will be held, per her request, but those who knew her, please have a cup or three of black coffee and a story, or better yet a long wide-ranging conversation, in her memory. In the spring, her ashes will be placed under a tree in the New Mexico mountains.