Karen L. Semph

 Karen was born on September 1, 1941 at Plymouth Hospital to Earl and Eleanor (Vogelman) Buechel of rural Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. After her father's passing and mother's abandonment, she was adopted by Henry and Elizabeth (Lutfring) Petesch of Belgium, Wisconsin; who loved her and raised her.

    She attended St. Rose of Lima Catholic School and Random Lake High School until her marriage to Lloyd A Titel of Adell, Wisconsin. Residing in the Random Lake and Milwaukee areas, the couple welcomed four daughters; DuAnne, Debra, Denise and Dina, affectionately known as the “4D's.” Although the family broke up after Karen and Lloyd’s painful divorce thirty years later, Karen and Lloyd became very good friends forgiving each other over the last 15 or so years, often sharing a fish fry at the Appleton VFW.

    Karen's adventurous spirit took her to New York, but her love and pride of being a farm girl at heart brought her back to Wisconsin. She lived in Little Elkhart Lake, Ada, Kiel, and finally settling in Appleton where she was a parishioner of St Mary's Catholic Church.

    She was an avid gardener and skilled seamstress. She enjoyed creating kitschy homemade gifts for family. Her joy was her grandchildren, many of whom recalled painting ceramics with ‘grandma’, weeding in the garden with the black German Shepherds playing in the yard, or sleeping over in the camper.

Her creativeness took her traveling to Pasadena to work on a “Parade of Roses”  float under famed float designer, Raul Rodriquez.

    Survivors include her sister, Donna(Chuck)Bell, daughters: DuAnne  (Stewart) Mednick, Deb (Mark) Buechel, Denise Meiselwitz and Dina (Jim) Fritsch, her grandchildren: Kyna, Jerrod, Emily, Ryan, Garrett, Hayleigh, Jaz, Jade, Jordan, Hannah, Jakob, Justin, Brooke, Amber, Chase and Cole, as well as 12 great grandchildren… as well as many other family and friends. She will be dearly missed.

   She was preceded in death by her parents; Henry and Elizabeth Petesch, brother Henry and his wife, Rosemary Petesch, Earl and Eleanor Buechel, her sisters Carolyn Wakefield, Judy Knocke and Jayne Jaworski and her husband, Ralph Jaworski and her grandchildren, Jamie Laux and Kayleigh Buechel.

   The Funeral Mass will be held 1 p.m. on Saturday, October 27, 2018 at St Mary Catholic Parish 312 S State Street, Appleton with Father David Funk OFM Cap. officiating. Karen’s family will receive relatives and friends at the church on Saturday from 11 a.m.  until the time of the Mass.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Karen L. Semph, please visit our floral store.