Karen SOLANA

1948 - 2016

SOLANA, Karen Sims Karen Sims Solana was born Karen Elizabeth Sims on October 20, 1948; she went home to Jesus on October 26, 2016. Funeral services will be held 10:30 AM Friday, November 4th at Christ the King Cathedral in Atlanta with Father Richard Morrow officiating. Interment will be in Westview Cemetery in Atlanta. The family will receive friends from 6 to 8 PM Thursday, November 3rd at Carmichael Funeral Home in Smyrna. She was the baby of three siblings and born to William Atticus Sims Jr. and Mary Harvell Sims. For many who knew her as a child, her blond hair and blue eyes made her unforgettable, while her personality made her mischievous. To her family and friends, she was their "Dennis the Menace." On one occasion, postal authorities were waiting for her at a friend's house on Courtney Drive, in Atlanta. At age six, "Karen the Menace," with her friend Mary Jo, removed all the mail from neighbor's mailboxes, and then, filled up the empty mailboxes with rice and random pieces of wrongly addressed mail! Karen graduated from Grady High School in 1966, and then, received her Bachelor of Education from Georgia State College in 1971. She received her Master of Education from Notre Dame College (Manchester, New Hampshire) in 1987 and Master of Counseling from Troy State University in 1991. Karen was a life-long runner; she ran a marathon, and at age 62, she ran a 6.2-mile race. Karen's professional career included working as a Dental Office Manager in Pensacola, Florida, Director of an Early Childhood program in Birmingham, Alabama, and Junior and Senior High School Instructors in Aurora, Colorado and in Pensacola, Florida. The highlight of her career was working 21 years for the Lutheran Services of Florida. She started with LSF in 1991 as a Family Counselor. She was promoted in 2003 to Program Manager for Ryan White Title II. She helped people living with HIV/AIDS in the Pensacola, Florida area receive necessary health and life care. She dearly loved her work family at LSF. After retirement, Karen and her husband Terry moved to Blue Ridge, Georgia. Throughout their life together they enjoyed walking, jogging, hiking through the Georgia mountains, and trips to Atlanta Georgia, Navarre and Saint Augustine, Florida to visit family. Terry and Karen were inseparable and truly soul mates. Karen's life blessings were that she was the wife to Terry Solana, the mother to Tony and Nicole, and the Grandmother to Eli, Ethan, and Gray. She is predeceased by her uncle Hal Sims, grandmother Alyce (Tar) Sims, her parents, aunts, Beverly Sims Moore and Clair Sims, uncle, Dr. Eugene Sims, and the father of her children, Dr. Frank Faggioni. Surviving her are her beloved husband, Terrell Francis Solana, her daughter, Nicole Faggioni, her son, Tony Faggioni and wife Natalie. Her grandsons, Eli, Ethan and Gray, who affectionately knew their grandmother as "Mussie," her brother, William (Bill) Atticus Sims III and wife Gwen, and her sister Joan Sims Hill. Also surviving Karen are her aunt, Rose Sims (wife of Eugene) and cousins, nieces, & nephews, who also loved her dearly. Some parting words from Karen's family and friends, "her life was full of color," "she inspired me to run," "she was always proud of Tony and Nicole," "she was a joy to all she met," "she is the most AMAZING woman I have ever met," "she encouraged everyone to 'shine'," "she was a bright light in my life and an amazing boss," "she touched us with her kind, sincere, upbeat and optimistic nature." Karen Sims Solana, we thank God for your life and the ways you have "Shined" on all of us.