Karen Patria Slusser

On the evening of March 29th, Karen Patria Slusser passed away peacefully at St. Helena Hospital with her son Ryan beside her. Karen spent the days leading up to her passing at home with her children, grandchildren, family, and close friends, and had just met her newest granddaughter.

Always the life of the party, Karen was born on New Year's Eve 1943 to Bob and June Miller in San Francisco. She lost her mother, June when she was just twelve, which strengthened her strong bond with her extended Miller family including cousins Judy and Ron who were more like siblings. The Miller family was incredibly active in the Nature Friends Tourist Club, which her grandparents helped establish after immigrating from Germany to California in the early 20th century. Almost every weekend of Karen's youth was spent at Heidelmann Lodge near Donner Summit or at a Maifest or Kinderfest at the Muir Woods clubhouse. The club provided Karen with a close-knit community of friends who were more like family and served as a model for all the friendships she would make later in life. At the club, she also developed an early appreciation for music, singing, and dancing, which would bring her joy throughout her life.

She graduated from South San Francisco High School, where classmates nicknamed her "Chickie." Chickie was a star cheerleader and earned a reputation for throwing raucous parties which were famous throughout the greater Bay Area. After high school, she briefly attended junior college in San Mateo where she was a member of the Omicron Alpha sorority. She left before earning her degree, but decades later earned her Associates Degree from Santa Rosa Junior College. She spent a summer backpacking through Europe, and then entered the workforce. She had a great love of travel, and became an airline stewardess in the 1960s working her way up to the coveted international flights that took her all over the world. She moved to Lake Tahoe in the early 1970s where she started work as a real estate agent at Rocky Ridge. She was proud of her trailblazing role as the only woman in the office, and fought with her boss for the right to wear "hot pants" on the job. She was a top member of the team, even securing housing for the cast of The Godfather, Part II (in which she appeared as an extra).

In Tahoe, she met Jim Slusser, who she married in 1975. A few years after the birth of their son Ryan, they moved to Calistoga, where Karen would remain for the rest of her life. For the 20 years that she and Jim were married, Karen lived in Knights Valley, where she fully embraced ranch life. She became active in the Knights Valley Ladies Club, organizing lunches as well as fundraisers for the KV Volunteer Fire Department, including the annual Christmas Bazaar booth where Karen's jams (along with others) were a big draw.

Following the birth of her daughter Jane, Karen became even more involved in the local civic life of Calistoga, often in cahoots with her close girlfriends better known as "The Hot Flashes." She was a founding member of the Calistoga Education Foundation which raised money to support the local elementary, junior, and high school. When Calistoga became a hot tourist destination and the town's hotels began to shut off access to their pools for local kids, Karen took on a decades-long project to build a community pool open to all Calistoga residents, which finally opened in 2009.

She served on the Calistoga City Council from 2003 to 2012, where she was not shy about making her opinions heard and sticking up for the interests of Calistoga residents. Her phone would start ringing at 8am and often not stop all day, but she was happy being in the thick of things and trying to bring about good solutions that preserved Calistoga's small town charm and kept Calistoga affordable for working families. After retiring from City Council, she remained passionate about politics both locally and nationally, and never backed down from an argument. Following her retirement, Karen was lucky to find love once again with her fiancé Bob Campina. They shared a love of music and dancing, gardening, Christmas decorations, and the Fourth of July. Though they were well into their 70s, the two acted like teenagers in love.

Karen will be remembered by many for her passion for her community, her love of friends, and her dedication to her family. She nurtured deep and strong friendships that lasted her entire life, and had a knack for making everyone feel welcome in her presence. She would lend her ear to your troubles, and then cheer you up with a good laugh. Her door was always open - literally her front door was never locked - so that friends could stop by at any moment for a chat, even if she was still in her bathrobe or covered from head to toe in sweat and dirt from her gardening. For her children, she provided a strong foundation of love and passed down a unique brand of humor that would often find all three of them in a fit of maniacal giggles. She loved them unconditionally and provided them both with a perfect role model for what a parent should be.

She is survived by her children, Ryan and Jane Slusser and their families, grandchildren Sinéad, Saoirse, Bowie, Noah, Seja, and Ashiah; fiancé Bob Campina; ex-husband Jim Slusser and his wife Jan; stepsister Denise Loverro Struven; cousins Judy Knight and Ron and Loretta Miller and their families.

Family and friends will celebrate her life at a memorial service at Pioneer Park in Calistoga, CA on Saturday June 1 at 12pm.

Memorial donations can be made in her name to the Calistoga Community Pool Project (CCPP), P.O. Box 946, Calistoga, CA 94515 or to Heidelmann Lodge c/o Lori Rittweger 841 Cape Breton Dr Pacifica CA 94044.