Karen Mieske

On February 22, 2021 Karen J. Mieske, 62, of Sedona VOC passed away peacefully.  The lived in Sedona since 2000.

She always was in awe of the Red Rocks.

 

She was born in Port St. Joe, Florida but was raised in Boulder Creek, California. She and sister Rae Ann loved to hike and explore the woods around them and go down to the creek to play with the crawdads.  She went to school at San Lorenzo Valley. Moved to Tacoma, WA in the mid 70s and one of the first jobs was at Elephant Car Wash which she enjoyed a lot and became real good friends to Don and Linda Bethke. In 78 she gave birth to her daughter, Tausha, while she was working in a law firm and someone there built her a crib for her and we still have to this day.  Russell and granddaughter, Sommar had the pleasure of using it also.  She became a pipe fitter at Tacoma boat and not long after that, in 81, she met her husband, Michael Mieske and in 82 he proposed to her in the restaurant on top of the Space Needle in Seattle, WA, they got married June 4, 1983.

 

She loved painting, her house is full of her art work.  Gardening, the house they lived in before moving to Sedona she had a garden with corn, 

broccoli, peas, carrots, tomatoes, potatoes in old tires, green onions, sunflowers. Traveling, that was probably her favorite thing to do, go on vacations.  At one point while she was growing up her Mom and Dad and sister went to almost every state in the US. So her and Mike went to many places, a couple of Caribbean Cruises, Hawaii several times, Cancun, Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta couple of times, and the last cruise they went on out of Los Angeles the band Styx did a show on board and they did meet and greet the band and sat in the second row which at the end of the show she caught the drummer's stick.  They camped all over the state of Washington, snow skied in Canada, WA, Oregon.  Golfed up and down the west coast, one trip they did with Mike's mom they all drove to Barstow to San Diego to back home and golfed in every town that they spent the night in.  From golfing with her dad in Barstow with his cowboy boots on to night golfing in Mission Bay San Diego.

 

In 1999 they did a vacation to this place called Sedona in Arizona, they fell in love with that place and August 2000 they were permanent residents.  Karen was always in awe of the Red Rocks.

 

At one point in the early 2000s she was known as "The Snack Shack Lady" at the Posse Grounds for the Sedona Little League baseball and men's softball leagues. She enjoyed painting, gardening, reading Si-Fi Fantasy books and movies.  Loved walking around the red rocks and going down to the creek to sit for hours taking in the noises and scenery.  Traveling with husband Mike and Walter, her service dog, throughout the United States and Caribbean cruises was some of their many adventures.  She was up for most any adventure.

 

Karen is preceded in death by her parents Maurice and Sandra Bird, sister Rae Ann Wingo and daughter, Tiffany.  She is survived by her husband, Michael Mieske, daughter Tausha Cooksey, son Russell Mieske, sister Julie Tatum, brother Maurice Bird, Jr. her grandchildren, Elijah Jennings and Alicia Mendoila, children of Tausha Cooksey, Sommar Mieske daughter of Russell Mieske.  Nieces, Rachael Wingo daughter of Rae Ann Wingo, Larina Tatum Yoder and Kariann Tatum and nephew William Tatum children of Julie Tatum.

 

Service will be held at Greer's Mortuary of Sedona, 2725 W. Highway 89 A on Monday, March 8th at 1:00 PM.