Karen Sue McCarthy

On the 27th of December 2024, Karen "Kaka" Sue McCarthy, made the passage from this mortal world to begin the great Adventure in the Eternal Life, where every journey is surrounded with blue sky's, and where the sunshine is warm upon her face, and a gentle breeze is always at her back.

In Oklahoma City on the 17th of December in 1956, Karen entered this world into the loving arms of Charles and Virginia Wilmott. From the moment she was born it was her fate to be a soul that constantly travelled to new adventures. Beginning, after a brief layover in OKC the next stop on Karen's life journey began as her father, mother and her older sister, Kim Wilmott, packed up their bags and left for the country of Peru. There on the northwestern coast of Peru in a small village called "Talara", the little child grew up among other travelers in a community of families of Expatriates of the Oil Fields. While there she engaged in many adventures, like the Legend of the Feral Pig, where the practice of "catch and reluctantly releasing" was established. As always, good journeys create lifelong friends, and also extra blessings, like welcoming her little sister, Leslie Caughey to the Adventure.

The journey would continue, as the family traveled to the country of Columbia. She had many adventures in Bogotá, like learning the art of equestrian riding, and always adding more lifelong family of Expatriates and Columbian classmates as she grew to become a young woman. Until, it was time once again to explore, this time in northern central Arizona. There she continued her education at "The Orme School" a college-preparatory boarding school. When it was time to begin college, she set sail for Fort Collins, Colorado. But this was a very short trip as Karen decided that the bitter cold and snow was not her idea of a worthy adventure. So, the travel plan changed and she set a course toward to milder weather in Denton, Texas.

Denton, is the home to Texas Woman's University, and it was the place where Karen started her adventure into healthcare as a nursing student. This would be a career choice that added more stops along the journey, like Houston, then to Honolulu, onward to Dallas, until finally Austin. Working at some of the finest institutions, like Herman Hospital, MD Anderson, The Queens Hospital, Methodist Hospital Dallas, Seton Brackenridge Hospital, and WellMed. All the while continuing her education while working to earn a Masters in Nursing, and then finally becoming a Nurse Practitioner at UT Arlington. No challenge stopped her, from being a Floor Nurse, Research Nurse, and Palliative Care Nurse Practitioner. The fields of care were also a journey in themselves, oncology, diabetes, neurology, and geriatrics. And then, she retired on the 31st of December 2021, closing a career of 44 years.

Along the way she teamed up with another Adventurer on the 24th of March 1981, when she married Michael McCarthy. She shared that fun of the Adventure with him, by climbing the stairs of Machu Pichu to reach Inti Punku, swam with the penguins in the Galapagos islands, walked the ancient roads of Pompei, and stood together in the mist of Iguassu Falls. Firmly united in their commitment to experience the world as it was, they wandered through the streets and alleys of Singapore, Paris, London, Cork, Madrid, Lisbon, Munich, Lima, Quito, Budapest, Vienna, Melbourne, Buenos Aires, Rome, Vancouver, and Puerto Vallarte. Always safe in each others arms.

Now for her father Charles, and her sisters Kim and Leslie and brother-in-law Danny Caughey and her niece Megan Thomas, and nephew Brian Caughey, and their spouses Ian and Nicole, we must wait before we all meet again when Karen will welcome us to the greatest adventure of all, where we all can celebrate together that which has been good before, and all that will be good in the next life for all of eternity.