Karen Joy Beddow

Karen Joy (Stone) Beddow passed away on December 5, 2024, at the age of 72 after a tough battle with cancer. She was born on March 4, 1952, in Nogales, Arizona to Willia Mae (VanLiere) and Joseph Stone. Karen spent her childhood living in rural Alaska, to include Chefornak, and Buckeye, Arizona. She grew up making her own clothes with her mom and sister, Elizabeth, thus providing her with the creative ability to follow and modify any pattern as well as create her own patterns for any type of project on a whim.
Karen graduated from Buckeye Union High School in 1970 and graduated from Northern Arizona University in 1974, where she majored in Elementary Education. It was at NAU where she met her best friend Jackie Hale, who eventually introduced Karen to her friend Thomas Beddow. Tom and Karen married on November 2, 1974, and soon after moved to the Grand Canyon where they lived in a small trailer for two years as Tom began his career with the United States Forest Service. Karen worked as a bank teller, as she realized during her student teaching at NAU that she would not enjoy a career as a schoolteacher.
Karen and Tom's first son, Nicholas, was born in 1979 with their second son, Michael, born in 1981.
In 1985 Karen established her business The Pack Shack, which made various packs and accessories for wildland firefighters and emergency services. While this was the official start of the company, its origin was a few years earlier in the Beddow living room. As a wildland firefighter, Tom could not find a fire pack that fit his needs. Using Karen's vast knowledge as a sewer and designer, the two worked together to create a unique pack that met Tom's wishes that was constructed using a home sewing machine and an old set of drapes. When Tom returned from the fire, he requested that Karen create another pack because someone at fire camp convinced him to sell the unique pack. Karen obliged, which he was subsequently convinced to sell once again at the next fire camp. This happened continuously, fire after fire, until Karen fully realized the impact her creation had on the fire community. The Pack Shack quickly became a family affair, with everyone cutting out patterns by hand each night while watching TV. Eventually the Pack Shack was moved to a physical location, selling high quality gear to fire and police departments in all 50 states as well as several foreign countries. Karen loved using the success of the Pack Shack to help her community by hiring locals, sponsoring youth sports teams, and donating money and merchandise for various raffles and fundraisers. She was a pillar of her community, and it was not uncommon for someone to randomly stop by her company to say hello or to ask for personal advice.
Outside of work, Karen's focus was on her family. In each town and state that the Beddow family lived, Karen's infectious kindness followed. As her children grew and gained friends along the way, each of these friends soon began to only know Karen not as Mrs. Beddow, but as "Mom". To this day communication still exists with many of these friends who were keeping in touch with their second mom. Karen also possessed the magical ability to bring any plant back to life with her incredibly green thumb. Anyone could bring her a plant that was presumed dead, and she would always return it in a state of flourishing one never knew was possible. Karen loved to garden and somehow managed to consistently grow extremely large vegetables. The deer loved her garden just as much, causing her to devise creative ways to keep them at bay. Her home was also a consistent stopping place for thousands of hummingbirds every fall as they migrated south for the winter, and she always made sure they were well fed.
By far, Karen's favorite role in life was being a grandmother. She loved every hug, snuggle, book reading, phone call, and handmade gift. She attended every event possible-dance concerts, sporting events, band concerts, graduations, and celebrations. Her grandchildren were always ecstatic knowing she would travel extremely long distances to ensure she would be at their special events. Karen is survived by Tom, her husband of 50 years, son Michael (Melissa), grandsons Bowen and Colten, daughter-in-law Kate Lasko-Beddow, granddaughters Lily and Violet, and sister Elizabeth Stone (Larry Lunde). She was preceded in death by her parents, brothers Jody and Garry, and son Nicholas.
Her family invites you to honor Karen's memory by clinking a glass of Riesling, her favorite wine, with a best friend or loved one, or by sharing a box of dark chocolate covered raisins with a friend; under the guise of obtaining your daily dose of antioxidants (which Karen believed was very important). A celebration of life will be held at a future date.