Karen was the daughter of Mary and Warren Copeland of Lima, Ohio. Both parents preceded her in death in 2011. She now precedes her husband Mike in death along with two sisters-in-laws, two brothers-in-laws and numerous nieces and nephews through marriage. Karen was a 1966 graduate of Lima Senior High School and a 1970 graduate of Muskingum University majoring in Education. She was certified to teach kindergarten through high school students. Karen taught 5th and 6th grades in the Shawnee Ohio School System for a year. She then was hired by the Upper Arlington School System, a suburb of Columbus, where she taught for 35 years. Her first assignment was at Fishinger Rd. Elementary as a kindergarten teacher. After eight years, she taught 5th and 6th grades for two years at Fishinger Elementary and then two years at Tremont Elementary. In 1982, Karen was hired as a 7th grade math teacher at Jones Middle School where she remained until her retirement in 2007. Karen was skilled at teaching young people, maintaining order and inspiring her students. Her leadership skills and her gift for working so effectively with young people was evident at Jones when she served as its cheerleading coach. She raised money for the squad's uniforms bake sales and snack sales at football and basketball games. In addition, Karen was recommended by a math professor at Ohio State University to be on the development team for Texas Instrument's new math calculator. This took her to cities across the US for meetings with top teaching professionals. Karen could see the humor in many things resulting in a variety of classroom stories. Her humor was contagious and her students could tell she enjoyed their wit. One year she had a student whose parents owned a bar and to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, the student brought a weak Tequila mix to school and put it in Karen's small refrigerator as his contribution to the event. Unknown to Karen, she went to retrieve her lunch and discovered his contribution. She then had a little teacher student sit down. Karen had an eye for beauty in all aspects of the home design and particularly flowers and beautiful landscapes. She loved flowers and all eyes were on Karen's selection of quality and beautiful flower arrangements for her mother-in-law's funeral. She loved to cook and was constantly searching for new recipes, and she was a voracious historical and fiction reader. She enjoyed traveling with Mike especially to the Charleston, SC area as well as the Tucson, Az. area. Karen met Michel (Mike) Wilcox at a party after the inaugural Muirfield Golf Tournament in 1976. They were married in Lima March 4th, 1978. Mike graduated from Upper Arlington High School in 1966 and attended Wittenberg University and OSU. Karen will be remembered with love, and she will be greatly missed by family and friends and is with God.