Karen Marie Fobbe

Karen Marie Fobbe of Long Grove, Ill., beloved wife of Joseph, loving mother of Matthew (Sherina), Jordan (Abbie), Ethan (Grace Cannell) and Haleigh (Nicholas Azcona), and grandmother to Aelish and Ayla (Jordan & Abbie), passed on January 31, 2025, at the age of 59. She was born to Ralph and Millie Wurm and married Joseph in October of 1990. She was preceded in death by her handsome father, her beautiful, loving mother and her wonderful brother Joe. She enjoyed the great love of her siblings Alfred (Cathy), Cheryl (Todd Thomas), John (Jen) and Ed.

She was a standout gymnast who made varsity while in middle school and was the top student in her medical assistant program at Normandale Community College. She excelled for five years as a medical assistant before pursuing a career in the world’s best profession: mom. In all her endeavors she was consistently admired for her style, beauty and grace, which ultimately attracted the attention of her husband of over 34 years, who was blessed to have her hand in marriage.

Karen was a phenomenal mother to her four beautiful children, all born between April 1993 and January 2000. She championed “all things kids”, including ten years of diapers, ten years of braces, ten years of college, etc. She was supermom for 13-14+ hours per day, addressing every need from sunrise to sunset. Karen provided stability and harmony in the household through multiple moves to new cities and states over the years. She read endlessly to her children in their early years, and they were always mesmerized as their favorite books were brought to life with her beautiful voice and requirement for snuggling. She was there for all of the little moments, and made every extracurricular activity. (This was no small feat for four kids!) Karen cheered endlessly for the success of her “Big Four” and loved to spend time with her family.

She exercised intensely daily and loved to work on cross stitch and a variety of craft projects for her children, their significant others and her granddaughters. Her home was always immaculate and decorated to reflect the current season or holiday. She truly instilled “Christmas Spirit” into her home, spending hours on end decking out every room, baking cookies, and wrapping the most beautiful presents you’d ever seen. Her yard radiated love during the summer with flowers in abundance. She was a friend to neighborhood birds and ducks, always ensuring they were well fed. Once her work with her four kids was mostly complete (though it never is), she loved, adored and cared for her “best buddy” Champ, a 130 lb. beautiful yellow lab, for 13 years. It’s widely known, too, that she was a Minnesota Vikings fanatic.

She liked to “dance like nobody’s watching, love like she’ll never be hurt, sing like nobody’s listening, and live like it’s heaven on earth.”

She will forever be in our hearts.

The family and memorial visitation will be on Saturday, April 5, 2025, from 11 AM until the Celebration of Life service at 2:30 PM at Davenport Family Funeral Home and crematory, 941 S. Old Rand Rd., Lake Zurich, IL 60047.

Flowers are always welcome, but donations may also be made to University of Iowa Health Care Stead Family Children's Hospital, University of Iowa Center for Advancement c/o UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital Fund PO Box 4550 Iowa City, IA 52244-4550 or to the Minnesota Vikings Foundation.