Karen R. Oil

Karen R. Oil, of Needham, MA passed away on Monday, August 19, 2024.

Karen was born in Brooklyn NY. She was born with congenital heart disease, and beginning in first grade was constrained by the 1960’s educational system which discriminated against her for having a disability and deprived her of her education for much of her time in public school. This fueled an activist spirit which propelled Karen throughout her life, into her choice of career as a social worker, and in the organizing and political work she took on. She was self-taught in many ways, and a student and teacher all her life, beginning at Stony Brook University at age 16 and continuing at Simmons School of Social Work, from which she received her MSW. She was a child and family therapist and taught in the social work school at Smith College. She eventually helped to develop and launch the University of New Hampshire MSW program where she was an assistant professor and the Field Coordinator.

Karen’s passions were friends, books, politics, Judaism, art, music, and later in her life, creativity, especially expressed through her writing. She was working on a memoir about disability, trauma, and communities of healing. She began writing during the pandemic and published her first essay in 2022. In addition, she was a member for several years of QUEST (Quality Education for Every Student), a volunteer grassroots organization of parents with children in Boston Public Schools, advocating for quality, equity and transparency in schools. She was a member of Boston Workers’ Circle.

Creating her own loving family and having a child was a goal for Karen. In 2001, Karen met her spouse Janet Smeltz. They became a couple and were married in October, 2005. They have a daughter Olive, 19, and as a family they loved to laugh together, travel, enjoy holidays, movies and their pets, especially their dog Isabelle and cat Cassie. Karen was a tremendous advocate for her daughter and for her own health.

Karen was a force, a reader and thinker, pop culture maven, and a woman with many long-time friends. She loved her brothers Howard and Michael and her extended family. She had a voice, and she used it, valued honesty and directness, loved a good conversation and hanging out. The people she loved knew it.

A funeral service for Karen will be held Thursday, August 22, 2024 at 12:00pm at Levine Chapels, 470 Harvard Street, Brookline, MA 02446 with livestream viewing available using the following link: https://www.levinelive.com/oil

Burial will follow at the Gardens at Gethsemane Cemetery, 670 Baker Street, West Roxbury.

There will be a Remembrance Gathering on Monday August 26 from 5-7pm and Shiva will be on Tuesday August 27 from 4-6pm at Karen and Janet's home.

In lieu of flowers, remembrances may be made to:

Emily's List, www.emilyslist.org or Adult Congenital Heart Association, www.achaheart.org or MoveOn.Org, https://act.moveon.org/donate/civ-donation