Karen Lee Siepe, age 65, of Effort, PA and a former long-time resident of Wayne, passed away unexpectedly on Wednesday, November 29, 2017.

Karen was born in Jersey City but, soon after her birth, in 1953 her family moved to Archung Road in the Packanack Lake Section of Wayne, NJ. As a young child, Karen enjoyed riding horses on the wide open fields that today are replaced by the Willowbrook Mall in Wayne. She also enjoyed swimming in Packanack Lake and was an accomplished dancer.

While in her senior year at Wayne Valley High School, Karen met a handsome young man named Kim Siepe one night while at a party. They soon became high school sweethearts. Being a year ahead of Kim in school, following graduation in 1970, she headed to Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia. Despite the miles that separated them, her love for Kim was steadfast. She befriended a player on the Marshall University Football team who, like herself, also had a long-distance love. Karen and the football player enjoyed a platonic friendship which was tragically taken away when, in 1970, the life of that football player and 74 other football players, coaches, flight crew and numerous fans were cut short by the worst single air tragedy in NCAA sports history. A year later, when Kim finished high school Karen left Marshall University and joined him at the University of Miami. Then in 1975, Karen and Kim returned to New Jersey and a few months later, on December 27, 1975, they made their wedding promises to each other at Wayne United Methodist Church. After a reception at the Mona Lisa in West Paterson (today called Woodland Park), they honeymooned in Cove Haven in the Poconos.

The newlyweds returned to Miami, Florida so that Kim could pursue being a major league baseball player but returned to New Jersey to live for a while with Karen’s parents while working at her parents knitting mill in Union City, NJ. In 1977 Karen and Kim purchased their first home in Oak Ridge, NJ and over the next four years they welcomed the three joys of their lives – Keather, Kourtney, and Kasey. They returned to Wayne in 1981 and Karen served as a caring and supportive mother and homemaker for her family while working for a local veterinarian and volunteering at the Friends of Wayne Animal Shelter.

As her growing family moved into greater independence, Karen maintained a busy schedule of attending their school events, working as an aerobics instructor at Spa 23 in Wayne and the Women’s Way Fitness Center in Fairfield, and volunteering with animal rescue. She enjoyed attending services at Calvary Temple in Wayne and she and Kim even hosted a couple of girls from Africa who came to church on a choir tour to perform.

Advocating for homeless dogs became Karen’s passion – so much so that, in 2003, she and Kim decided to move to Effort, PA. There they purchased a large piece of property so that they could rescue more dogs. Since their move to PA, Karen and Kim were able to rescue 68 dogs in all. As part of this endeavor, Karen established her own business which she called God’s Green Acres and eventually she began breeding too. She focused on the breeding of Brussels Griffons and her reputation for selling well-loved, healthy pups was quickly established. Karen’s love for these dogs always took precedence over the profits she derived from selling them. Consequently, her prices were always known to be very fair, offering large discounts to veterans and police officers, and, if a customer changed their mind, she always took the dog back, no strings attached because there was no way one of her puppies was going to end up in a pound! Presently, she and Kim were the host of thirty dogs in all and she knew all of them by name. All thirty lived with them in their home but you’d never know because Karen was also a hard-working, fastidious homemaker who valued cleanliness as a close second to godliness.

Karen’s love for her canine friends was great but her love for her family was just as great. When her own children were young, she and Kim took them every summer down the Jersey shore to Long Beach Island where they rented a house on 10 Osborne Terrace. This tradition lasted sixteen years and many fun, family times took place with countless good memories made. She always attended her children’s activities and especially loved going to her son Kasey’s sporting events and watching him check an opponent into the boards while playing hockey. Karen felt that it was important to raise her kids to know and love God and when the blessing of grandchildren came along she would often say, “If I had known how great being a grandmother would be, I would have done that first!” She loved spoiling her grandkids and her favorite gift to give them was, of course, a stuffed animal doggy. Karen would do anything for her children and grandchildren. She had the honor of having her granddaughter Kyana live with her the first four years of her life and, as a result, the two of them became very close! In her spare time, Karen was a Fox 5 news addict and she also loved to watch Dancing with the Stars and Little Big Shots.

A joy-filled soul, the happiness that Karen experienced in her life bubbled from her heart and usually manifested itself in the exuberant utterance of a song. Already as a little girl in the backyard Karen simply loved to sing! Right on into adulthood, she sang everywhere – around the house, in the shower, in the car – always putting on little solo concerts. Her renditions from Bette Midler’s Beaches album, inspirational gospel numbers from the famous Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir or God-glorifying music by BeBe and CeCe Winans or Avalon, were unconsciously used by her as vehicles to spread that joy in her heart to anyone who would have the pleasure of hearing her sing. And now that same passion is passed down to her two daughters who love singing and music too. Heaven surely has gained a wonderful new member in their choir!

Karen was the beloved wife of Kim Siepe; loving mother of Keather and husband Walter Clark of Hewitt, NJ, Kourtney and husband Jeffrey Jensen of Dingmans Ferry, PA, and Kasey Siepe and his companion Effie Haralambidis of Pine Brook, NJ; adoring grandmother of Aaron, Kyana, Meiha, Kacer, Kennavysia, and Jeffrey; dear sister of Keith Radhuber and Craig Radhuber; dear sister-in-law of Craig Siepe, Jeff Siepe, and Narmeen; and dear aunt of numerous nieces and nephews.

In lieu of flowers, those planning an expression of sympathy in Karen’s name are asked to consider Greyhound Friends of New Jersey, Inc. PO Box 4416, Cherry Hill, NJ 08034 or online at greyhoundfriendsnj.biz.