Karen Eve Ehrlich Fuqua passed away on December 7, 2024, with family and friends by her side. On February 4, 1940, she was born to Wesley A. and Wilma E. Ehrlich as their firstborn in Shattuck, OK. The Ehrlichs were pillars of the community, living on the farm for years before moving to town. Theirs was a close-knit family, and Karen, along with her sister Janice and brother Wesley Jr, learned early the qualities of discipline, thrift and steadfastness.

Their life centered around family, church and community. She was a good student and loved playing basketball. Karen's lifelong love of basketball followed her; she was an enthusiastic OKC Thunder fan, and a great arm-chair coach in a close game.

When she graduated from Shattuck High School in 1958, she followed her plan to attend Bethany Nazarene College in Bethany, Oklahoma, now Southern Nazarene University. Karen had a job each summer when she returned home from college; she worked in the business office of Newman Memorial Hospital in Shattuck – perhaps setting the course for her successful career in healthcare.

It was at BNC that she met the love of her life, Loren Lael Fuqua, who grew up just an hour east of Shattuck in Seiling. Lael had taken a couple of years between high school graduation and college to work. Just days before the start of classes in the fall of 1961, Lael made a quick decision to go to Bethany and enroll in BNC. It must surely have been God's providence. He met Karen just outside the "Drag" on his first day on campus. And although not side by side, Karen and Lael sat on the same alphabetical row in all-student Chapel. Once they met, their future was set; they were married July 21, 1962. There was no June wedding for them; the date had to be set for after wheat harvest!

Her first job after college was with the Gilbert Clinic, working first at the clinic on NW 39th Street and moving the clinic in 1977 to its new location on NW 23rd Street, where she wrote the program for the new computer system. Co-workers still remember her extraordinary management skills combined with consistent kindness and compassion.

In 1995, Karen took a position with Mercy Health Network, serving Mercy through several tumultuous changes in healthcare, especially the installation of the system-wide electronic medical record. She opened the new Mercy Edmond Memorial clinic, and ultimately retired after a full clinic management career. She would never have claimed the title for herself, but friends and co-workers would say that she was the 'queen of quality service and medical clinic systems.' She was consistently focused on high performance and a patients-first perspective.

Karen loved to travel. She and Lael took many excursions with Gary and Ann Fuqua, Lael's brother and his wife. In later years, they traveled with the Putnam City Teachers Travel Club. Over time, they visited almost every National Park in the United States and Karen photographed every beautiful site.

Karen's life was characterized by wise and careful choices. In "things", she was a comparison shopper with an eye for quality. She surrounded herself with classics over fad or fashion. As important as the choices she made, was the care she invested in what she loved. In relationships, she placed that same high value and priority on family and friends, carefully tending those relationships with time spent in loving care. She was – in all ways – faithful, and will forever be known as a faithful follower of Jesus, a faithful daughter, sister, wife, aunt, friend, supervisor and neighbor.

Karen was preceded in death by her parents Wesley and Wilma Ehrlich; her brother Wesley A. Ehrlich, Jr; her parents-in-law Raymond and Rosa Fuqua; brothers-in-law Doyle, Norman, and Gary; sisters-in-law Gwendolyn Paris and Joan Calkins.

She is survived by her husband Lael of 62 years; her sister Janice Williams; sister-in-law Claudette Ehrlich; brothers-in-law Keith Fuqua and Russell (Sherry) Fuqua. Many nieces, nephews, and friends of all ages share sweet memories of her; she was deeply interested in their lives.

Viewing will be at Mercer-Adams, Friday, December 13, from 12-8 pm. Funeral services will be held Saturday, December 14, 10:00 am at Mercer-Adams Chapel. Graveside services will be at Brumfield Cemetery in Seiling, Oklahoma, December 14, at 3:30 pm.

For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come – Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:37-39 KJV)