KAREN LORRAINE MENSINGER, of Lomond, AB, beloved wife of Wallace "Wally" Mensinger, passed away at the Chinook Regional Hospital in Lethbridge, AB on September 28, 2023 at the age of 70 years.

Karen was born on August 17th, 1953 on a stormy summer evening.  Her sister Shirley took the horse and rode to the neighbour's house through thunder and lightning to get someone to drive her mom from their home at Milo, AB to the hospital in Vulcan, AB where Karen was born.  She was almost born in the truck because their neighbour, Mr. Monner got a flat right on the tracks after he dropped them at the hospital.  The family always joked that Karen was just about born on the tracks!

The family moved and Karen grew up in Vulcan, AB with her mom, Yvonne and her four sisters.  There, she met and married her high school sweetheart and soulmate, Wally Mensinger on June 20th, 1970, who was also from Vulcan.  They moved into a tiny home across from the pool where they soon welcomed their first child, Tammy Lee on October 28th, 1970.  Wally worked for the County of Vulcan while Karen made their house a home.  Four years later their family grew to four when Barry Wallace was born on December 13th, 1974.  The house was getting smaller as the family was getting bigger and on April 1st, 1977 they moved to Lomond, AB to start a new chapter of their lives.  Life was good here as Wally started a new company (Truck-a-Long Limited) with his dad  while Karen raised their family in their new house and town.  On January 12th, 1980, Wally and Karen welcomed their third child, Boyd Nelson.  Their family was complete.  Karen continued to raise their family and now did the books for the new company as Wally went on his own and changed the company name to Mensinger Contracting.

When her family was grown, Karen started her own career as the caretaker of Lomond School.  She loved this job and she loved seeing the kids of the school every day.  Karen also took up curling and loved this social sport as it was a fun night out each week with friends and she won lots of prizes at bonspiels.

Karen loved spending time with her family.  Her family was her life and it grew to ten grandkids!  She was so proud of them all and spent as much time as she could with them baking, crafting and taking them to the park when they were small.

A highlight for the kids was when grandma and grandpa would take all 10 of them to the city with Christmas gift cards in hand to go shopping for their Christmas presents from grandma and grandpa.  What great memories!  They were very brave to take all 10 at once!

Karen was a lifetime member of the Vulcan Legion Ladies Auxiliary.  She had a great love of our country, our veterans and supported them in any way she could.  Karen was president of the Ladies Auxiliary for several years and also District Commander and Sgt. at Arms for many years and at the time of her passing.

Karen quietly took her last breath after a brave fight with cancer and finally an infection that weakened her heart.  She is missed by all of us and survived by her soulmate of 53 years, Wally Mensinger, daughter, Tammy (Michael) Subasic and their children, Ethan, Amelia, Samantha and Melissa, son, Barry (Brandy) Mensinger and their children, Ty, Wyatt and Summer, and son, Boyd (Desiree) Mensinger and their children, Mikah, Kadynce and Lyam.  Her memory is also cherished by her stepdad, Duane (Rita) Hill, sisters, Linda (Rob) Appleby and Darlene (Robert) Phillips and sister-in-law, Laurie (Kevin) Klein.  

She was predeceased by her mom, Yvonne Hill and her sisters, Shirley Mock (Gene) and Sharon (Bryan) Huff.

A Celebration of Life service for Karen will be held at the VULCAN LEGION BRANCH #21, 240 Sinclair Rd, Vulcan, AB on Thursday October 12th, 2023 at 1:00 P.M.

In lieu of flowers and in memory of Karen, please consider a donation to the Vulcan Ladies Auxiliary, Box 175, Vulcan, AB T0L 2B0.