Karen Jensen Moore

Karen Lovett Jensen Moore, b 22 Jan 1935, d 28 Oct 2023, beloved daughter of Christian Astrup Jensen and Evangline Lovett Nine Jensen, wife of Hugh L Moore, and mother of Chris (Leona), Peter (Nanako) and Douglas (Gina). Karen (pronounced car-in) grew up in Lasalle, Illinois the middle of three children. Her father was a Jeweller from Denmark and her mother a teacher of French and Latin.

Mom’s formative years were during the end of the depression and through “The War” as it was known. Among some of her childhood memories were a Victory Garden (including asparagus shoots that they used for sword fights); her family buying a second car to get an additional gasoline ration; having a new exotic plant called a “cactus”; and her father trading jewellery for oriental carpets because both the jewellery and oriental carpet trades were quiet during those times of austerity.

She lost her father to pancreatic cancer in early 1946, an experience from which she never fully recovered. Her grandmother “Gram” moved in to helped raise her and her siblings, Astrid and Bob, while her mother looked after the store.

Mom worked hard in school, and spent many hours outside of school also working in the jewellery store. It was very much a family business. Summers were spent with her sister, Astrid, and cousin, Joan, at Camp Tuckabatchee where she was an avid horseback rider.

She went to Mt Holyoke College with her sister where she studied History and English and endured two weeks in a coma after a near-fatal car accident. She graduated in 1956 before moving Boston for a spell, where she worked as a copyeditor, before getting selected to be a guide at the American Pavilion of the World’s Fair in Brussels in 1958. This was one of the true highlights of her life, becoming the first part of an 18-month adventure in Europe that included staying in France, studying at the Serbonne, and travelling through Italy and Greece. While in Europe, she made lifelong friends who have visited our family (and we theirs) many times over the ensuing decades.

Mom returned to America to live in Evanston Illinois where she worked as the editor of the Northwestern University Medical School Alumni Magazine. Those were her salad days of making her own way as a young professional in the big city, a time of friends, fun and professional growth, and a time she greatly enjoyed.

In early 1963 she went on a first date with Hugh Moore to see some classical music being played at the Rockefeller chapel of the University of Chicago. The pair hit it off and ended up getting married on 4/4/64.

Karen and Hugh moved a lot in their early years of marriage (living in 5 cities over 5 years), and also kept busy by having three children who were born 1965 – 1972 in Chicago, Toronto and Phoenix.

They finally settled down a bit in Phoenix (1971-1980) before finding a permanent home in Indianapolis in 1980. Mom was very pleased to return to her midwestern roots. Happily, Indiana sat right between where her mother lived in Illinois, and where her mother-in-law lived in Ohio.

Mom spent most of her parenting years as a stay-at-home mom, with a short stent of editing, and a longer stent of going to law school and later working as a paralegal. As a stay-at-home mom, she put her editing skills to good use, editing (among other things) her children’s thank-you notes, which she then had us re-write correctly(!) (Though it was not always fun, it gave us all an invaluable and life-long skill for which we are forever grateful!)

Mom was involved in the Episcopal church and immersed herself in the Order of St Luke (“OSL”) and in Jungian philosophy. She also learned the Silva meditation technique (as taught by local Franciscan Fr Justin). She also kept up her French practice as much as possible.

She was also a very passionate alumni of Mt Holyoke College, and she worked as a local recruiter in both Phoenix and Indianapolis. She stayed in touch with both her classmates and a number of the young women whom she had helped recruit to go there over the years, most especially Sherri Burr, her friend of some 40 years.

But above all, she was an avid reader, particularly of the New Yorker and, in later years, of the New York Times. She liked to describe herself as a professional dilettante and she had the catholic tastes and sharp intellect that allowed her to excel in her chosen vocation. Perhaps this is why she enjoyed Jeopardy and her book club so much. Her broad knowledge was matched only, perhaps, by her incisive wordplay and verbal legerdemain which made her an engaging conversationalist with anyone who could keep up with her sometimes “elliptical thinking.”

In her younger years she enjoyed skiing and playing tennis and in her later years she watched professional tennis avidly.

She was deeply proud of her three sons and their achievements, and she doted on her ten grandchildren.

She had many important friendships in her life, including her lifelong connection with childhood companions Sandy Steinberg, Polly Cornin, and Marilyn Hamar. But perhaps the most important friendship of her later adult years was with Tammy Castleman, who shared Mom’s Episcopal religion, her profound love of Jung, and her interest in spiritualism. The two of them would have marathon lunches together and formed and sustained a connection that was very important to them both. Tammy filled a huge gap in Mom’s life during her “empty nester” years, and we will always be grateful to her for that.

Mom was also privileged to travel widely, having been to Europe a number of times, as well as to Zimbabwe, Russia, Ukraine, Peru (where she and dad visited Machu Picchu), Thailand, Myanmar, Korea, China, New Zealand and Australia.

In her last few years, Mom had Alzheimer’s disease, but her love for her husband and children never waned, nor did she suffer from the terrible mood swings that can beset some sufferers. She may not have always known where she was, but she still had her very lucid moments, and even in her more confused moments, she knew her family was her family, even if some of the details got a bit muddled. She was able to love us, and we her, until the very end.

She passed away very peacefully surrounded by family, having long felt that she was ready to go. Though we were not (and could never have been) ready to lose her, we are grateful for the blessing of her life and for the fact that she is now at peace.

Arohanui, Mom.

“May her memory be a blessing.”

A visitation for Karen will be held Tuesday, November 7, 2023 from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 6050 N Meridian Street, Court, Indianapolis, IN 46208. A funeral service will occur Wednesday, November 8, 2023 at 11:30 AM at St. Paul's Episcopal Church. Services can be livestreamed from the church with the following link: https://www.stpaulsindy.org/funeralstream.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.crownhill.org for the Moore family.