Karen Parker Death – At the age of 77, Karen K. Parker, who was the originator of the journal County Line and lived in Ontario, passed away at the Mayo Clinic Health System in La Crosse on April 1, 2024. For a period of forty years, Karen served as the publisher of the County Line newspaper, and eventually became the publisher emeritus. Through the reporting of hundreds of news and feature pieces, she captured the way of life in the region. Her weekly Backtalk pieces, which were at times personal but also outspoken and cast a critical eye on matters both locally and nationally, were the reason she became so well-known.
Edwin Kundert and Ethel (Lichtenwalner) Kundert welcomed their daughter Karen Kay Kundert into the world on January 25, 1947, in Monroe, Wisconsin. Karen Goepfert was adopted by Alfred and Gretta Goepfert of Monroe when she was nine years old. They reared her as if she were their own daughter. She received her diploma from Monroe High School in the year 1965. It was in 1971 that she graduated with a degree in sociology from Elmhurst College, which is located in Elmhurst, Illinois. As a volunteer for the Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) program, she spent a year working as a social worker in the state of New Jersey.
On June 28, 1968, in Chicago, she tied the knot with Thomas Parker, whom she had met while attending Elmhurst College. During the previous year, they celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary. It was never Karen’s intention to reside in the city. Karen and Tom made the acquisition of a rural property close to Ontario in the year 1975. She often talked about her life at “Burdock Acres” in the pieces that she wrote for Backtalk. “Our place will never grace the cover of a country living magazine,” she wrote in a piece that was published in 2016, “but it is a comforting retreat from people fatigue and the everyday stress that life hands us in basket loads.”
The soul is more easily restored by a pleasant walk in the woods with the dog than by all of the pharmaceuticals at Walgreens or all of the liquor at the bar combined. In November of 1983, Karen made the decision to launch the County Line newspaper. Ontario and Norwalk were initially included in her covering area, but she eventually extended it to include Kendall and Wilton. Later on, there will be a private ceremony performed for the deceased.
