Karen Anne LaMartin

LaMartin, Karen Anne Kalshoven 70 died May 13, 2015 in her Tampa home with her husband and children present. She was born November 7, 1944 in New Orleans, the daughter of James Edward Kalshoven and Marie Estelle Leggio. At age six, she moved with her family to Knoxville, Tennessee where she attended Saint Mary’s Catholic School through grade eight and then Knoxville Catholic High School. In 1961, she entered the University of Tennessee, majoring in Journalism. She was a member of Phi Kappa Phi, Beta Gamma Sigma, Kapa Tau Alpha and Phi Delta Pi honorary fraternities and Zeta Tau Alpha social sorority. She was active in campus life, Angel Flight Commander and a member of the Student Government Executive Board being two such activities. Following graduation she did graduate work in Economics, receiving a Master of Arts Degree in Labor Economics from the University of Tennessee. Before finishing that degree, she worked for Southern Bell in Nashville. Following a brief stint there, she then took a job as a labor-management relations examiner with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in New Orleans, where she met and married William F LaMartin in 1971. Mrs. LaMartin made a career of the NLRB. Following her time in New Orleans, she held the position of Deputy to the Assistant General Counsel in Washington, DC and finally Assistant to the Regional Director in Tampa. Karen is survived by her husband, William Frederick LaMartin; children William Frederick LaMartin, Jr. of Manhattan and Dr. Kimberly Marie LaMartin of Tampa; brothers James Edward Kalshoven and wife Laura with their children Josephine, Julia, Jason and Lydia of Lanham, Maryland and brother Kalven Dale Kalshoven and wife June Dixie of Riverview with their son Kristopher of Madeira Beach. Karen retired from the NLRB in 2011, one year earlier than planned, upon discovering she had ovarian cancer. Honoring her wish, there will be no funeral or memorial service. The family would, however, like to thank all the medical professionals who helped Karen through her almost four-year struggle with the disease: Dr. Sachin Apte and the many other physicians and nurses at Moffitt Cancer Center, her personal physicians, Dr. John Lippelman and Dr. Gregory W. Wilkerson, Nurse Lisa Mastrorio and the other BayCare home-care nurses and finally all those from LifePath Hospice who attended Karen in her final days.