In Loving Memory
Karen Hurley Kuchar
Born: January 21, 1949 Detroit, MI
Died: October 7, 2023 Downers Grove, IL
Karen Hurley Kuchar had an exceptional life. Karen passed away Saturday, October 7, 2023 after an eleven month battle with cancer at her home in Downers Grove. Although her chapter in this world has come to an end, her story, inspiration, and spirit will live on for many years to come.
Born in Detroit, Michigan to James and Eleanor (Black) Hurley on January 21, 1949, Karen entered the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary of Monroe, Michigan in 1966 following graduation from high school. Karen graduated from St. Louis University with a degree in English and Psychology and taught in Detroit at St. Mary’s of Redford from where she graduated until she made the decision to leave religious life. She then attended George Williams College in Downers Grove and obtained a Masters in Counseling Psychology. It was in graduate school where she met Ken, her loving partner for 49 years whom she married in 1976 in Detroit, Michigan. Karen was a loving mother to two children, Evan and Carolyn. As executive director of Care and Counseling Center in Downers Grove for 4 years and Family Shelter Service in Wheaton for 16 years, her leadership style was grounded in integrity, compassion, and wisdom. Karen ventured into her own consulting and coaching business and began teaching courses for a Master’s program at North Central College. As grandparents, Karen and Ken, cherished every minute with their 5 grandchildren. For the past 7 years, Karen was board president of Anawim Arts where she and her cohort of inspirational friends explored how creative expression, art, and spirituality are woven through all of us. Karen published a book of poetry in 2016 and has been preparing a second book of poetry and continued it during her time battling cancer.
Karen’s spark will live on in her family, spouse, Ken, children, Evan (Miya), Carolyn (Carl), grandchildren, Lincoln, Lily, and Wilson Frost, and Ansel and Walden Drucker-Kuchar, siblings, Kevin (Cheryl), Susan (Jeff), sisters-in-law, Kris (John), Karen (Hugh), Kathy, and 10 nieces and nephews. She was met in heaven by her parents James and Eleanor (Black) Hurley and her in-laws George and Lorraine (Hejl) Kuchar.
In lieu of flowers, memorials can be made to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network to further the research and early detection of this heartbreaking disease or the Wellness House of Hinsdale, Illinois-a great support for individuals and families battling cancer.
Published by Suburban Life Publications on Oct. 19, 2023.
My heart breaks. She was one special lady.
So so lovely to get this about Karen. She was a very special lady. I got to know and love her through the interviews she hosted on line. The way she interviewed people was just beautiful. She was a very gifted person in many ways. She will be greatly missed as a special individual and for her creative ideas which she shared so generously with all of us.
Thank you, Karen.
With gratitude,
Deirdre Bannon, Anawim Arts,Ireland
What a loss! My thoughts go out to her family and friends. And huge gratitude to Karen for her tireless work in bringing the sparks of Divine Energy into our world. I marvelled at the way she was always present to everyone she interviewed and was able to get them to talk about the essence of their art. I give thanks for her dedication to Anawim Arts and her vision to give the arts a prominent place in the lives of so many.
Karen, rest in peace, faithful witness to God’s grace.
Wonderful indeed to read about Karen’s inspirational life, to see her lovely family and to have shared something of her vision within the Anawim Arts and the unique blend of spirituality and creativity.
Karen had a special way of drawing light and love into everything she touched. I was fortunate to have an opportunity to meet her and participate in a few programs. She inspired me and others to explore the creative in a deeply personal way. With kindness, talent and leadership she nurtured me and many others to embrace our connection to Spirit. With gratitude, and love and prayers to all of her family and friends, shine on Karen, you beautiful soul.
Thank you for letting us know Karen is gone.
I met her as a client. We become colleagues and friends. She loved the Anawim Arts community. I remember how excited she was about interviewing artists and she was really good at it – no surprise! She was a brilliant, gentle and not-to-be underestimated powerhouse who lived her values and followed her heart. While I will miss her presence, I am grateful for the amazing space she has left in her wake… filled with love, encouragement, creativity, and fierce commitment to wisdom, joy, and the sheer adventure of life. My deep condolences to her family.
I am shocked, for I didn’t know she was ill. She seemed a gentle driving force in the Anawim Arts programs which I often participated in with my own paintings and poetry. Anyone promoting and supporting these positive arts is to be applauded! I first knew Arlene, and still admire her involvement in the latter. Of all the evil in the world, it is this precious art of creative visuals and imaginative words in poems that keep God in our midst, and ease the pain of living on this often beautiful earth. May Karen be remembered for her strong efforts toward the latter. Let’s continue the blessings she brought us.
So sorry to hear of Karen’s death. She was such an inspiration as a poet. She will be surely missed…
“I have been with you in spirit during these last months and hold you and Karen’s family in my affection and compassion. Such richness in her life, only the Holy One can see how she has sown so many seeds in her life in a great variety of areas. With Karen’s departure, it is two members of the Anawim Arts Board of Directors who have left in a short time, which is not easy. I ask the Divine to give each of you, Arlene, Cari, and Gail, what you need to actually live through these transitions.”
I will miss her great smile, even though I only saw it over Zoom. I will miss how she helped those of us in the writing circle center ourselves as we got ready for the writing of the day. I will be forever grateful to her for helping me discover a new kind of writing, as she encouraged us to delve inward. Her kindness, compassion, and strength emanated across the screen and across the miles, where she united us all the way to Australia! She was an incredibly special woman, who shared her cancer journey with us, and in doing so, inspired us. We who got to know her, at any level, are all the better off for it. My condolences to her family and her Anawim friends and colleagues.