Obituary for Karen Marie Stewart

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Life Story for Karen Marie Stewart

Karen Marie Dowling DiRocco Stewart, 56, passed away May 16th, 2016 after a valiant 16-year battle against recurrent breast cancer. Karen is survived by her husband, Tom Stewart, children Meghan DiRocco (Fiancee Rich Freeman), Joe DiRocco, Lauren Stewart, Abbey Stewart, Mother; Peg Dowling, Mother-in-Law; Marcelene Stewart, Sisters and Brothers: Susan Gill (Jack), Mary Kay Whalen (Michael), Tom Dowling (Janette), Steve Dowling (Kristin) several nieces and nephews and ex-husband, Joe DiRocco. She is preceded in death by her father, Tom Dowling. Karen was a beautiful person, and she handled everything in her life with grace, courage, and strength allowing her faith in God to guide her every step of the way. Karen fought hard and taught others in her life how to believe that God has a plan. Karen was always up for a good adventure. She travelled the world with her husband, went to Cedar Point every year for the past 20 years with her kids and extended family, and no one can deny that our family dinners with endless hours of Dominos or Euchre were always an adventure. Karen made everything look easy throughout her illness as well as in her professional life. We often congratulated her for achievements that she made at work (there were many!) and she would typically shrug it off and say it was nothing more than doing the right thing for others. Karen had an unwavering standard for how to treat people. She believed that everyone had the right to be treated with dignity and respect. We have all been amazed by Karen’s positive attitude and we often wondered how she was able to maintain this positive outlook for as long as she did. She never really complained, even though her illness had a tight grip on her. When we visited her, she might mention that her legs hurt and then before you knew it, she would turn the conversation around and ask us what kinds of things the kids were up to that weekend. She would acknowledge the negative things that were happening, but then would quickly move on to all of the positive things that she was grateful for. She has unquestionably, left a void in our lives. Karen would want us to acknowledge that void, honor her memory, and then move onto all of the things we should be grateful for as a result of knowing her. Let’s remember Karen for the great memories that she has left us with and the 2 lights of her life, Meghan and Joey. Go Irish!