Kari (Turnbladh) Simkins died September 3, 2022, and left behind her three children Sonja, Jordan, and Shawn, two grandchildren, four kitties and two horses. She was a resident of Stillwater, MN.
At Carleton she majored in Art and English Literature (and was our class’s Homecoming Queen!).
After Carleton she attended the University of Oregon and The Alfred Adler Institute (MN), earning a Master’s degree in psychology. She ran two businesses in Stillwater: Diet Center and Tamarack House Galleries. In 1990 she rediscovered her love for teaching and renewed her teaching certificate. From 1992 to 2014 she taught English, drawing, painting, photography, and video production at Stillwater Jr. High and Stillwater Area High School. She was also an artist, poet, songwriter, and accomplished musician on piano, guitar, and accordion.
She loved her children and animals and enjoyed painting, drawing, ideas, critical thinking, books, The Far Side, Seinfeld, Mutts, Dark Side of the Horse, coffee, biking, horseback riding, swimming, downhill skiing, the poetry of Sara Teasdale, music of Neil Diamond, silliness, and solitude. She treasured her years at Carleton.
Barbara Wall Coe ‘63
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