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Karen Schuler Rowley died peacefully at home on April 14, 2013. Karen was born and raised in Munster, IN. She received a Bachelor's degree in Elementary Education from Oberlin College. She married J. Keith Rowley in 1960, and they lived in Brookhaven hamlet, where they raised their three children.
Karen taught elementary school in Fair Lawn, NJ and Sayville, and then taught nursery school at Brookhaven National Laboratory for many years before becoming a travel agent, and working at Bellport Travel. She also taught piano lessons to children in the area for many years.
Karen was an avid birder who shared her knowledge with everyone. She was a former president of the Moriches Bay Audubon Society and member of Friends of Wertheim (National Wildlife Refuge) and was an active member of the Fire Island Wilderness Committee. Karen was a longtime member of the Bellport Garden Club and The Herb Society of America, Long Island Unit. She was instrumental in the planning, design and maintenance of the herb garden at the Post-Morrow Foundation in Brookhaven Hamlet. Karen developed a program to distribute composters in Brookhaven Hamlet with the assistance of the Town of Brookhaven and the Waste Reduction Coalition. She was a member of the South Country Education Foundation's Community Advisory Council and a founding member of the Foundation's Becker/Gambles Music Fund, whose mission is to support music education in the South Country schools. She was an enthusiastic member of the Bellport Aqua Divas water aerobics group.
Music was a life-long passion of Karen's. An avid opera lover, Karen took many courses in opera appreciation and attended live opera performances in Manhattan and elsewhere whenever possible. Trained since childhood as a pianist, Karen took up the recorder as an adult and achieved a high level of playing ability. She was a member of the Long Island Recorder Society, she organized many recorder workshops and played with the Swingettes and with Stan Davis and the All Women's Swing Band. Over the last 30 years, Karen formed strong relationships with other recorder musicians and early music instrumentalists, performing extensively with the East End Consort, the Fire Place Consort, and Ardea.
Surviving members of the family include Karen's three children Karl of Sunnyvale, CA, Steve of Kendall Park, NJ, and Laura of Seattle, WA; Karen's sister Jane of Sea Ranch, CA; and her grandchildren Gregory Rowley and Isabella Osias. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations designated to the Becker/Gambles Music Fund be sent to the South Country Education Foundation, PO Box 512, Bellport, NY 11713.
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