Karolee Ann (Keelin) Coppoc

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. - Matthew 11:28

Karolee Ann Keelin was born in Ottawa, Kansas to Thorald “Spike” and Emma “Irene” Keelin on May 3rd, 1950. Her father and uncle owned a feed and produce store, and she enjoyed telling stories of growing up helping around the shop. For many years, every time she visited her home town, Karolee would point to a local beauty shop that stood where the store had been, and wonder aloud if the beauticians knew she used to dispatch and pluck chickens on the back stoop.

Karolee comes from a large, good, close-knit rural family, which for decades was centered around her Grandma and Grandpa Bales’ farm on OO road in Warrensburg, Missouri. Many of her fondest memories from her younger years included a cousin or two. Music is a running theme among Bales descendants, and singing and playing piano and violin remained lifelong hobbies. Throughout Karolee’s adult years, the annual Bales Family Reunion was an anchor back to that happy part of her childhood.

Karolee’s mother, Irene, was college-educated in a time that was rare for rural women, and she worked as a small-town librarian. Karolee’s lifelong love of reading and learning came from this. She overcame a number of life obstacles to graduate from Ottawa University with a degree in Small Business Administration, and took several graduate courses throughout her career. Irene also introduced Karolee to scouting early in life through a Brownie troop that met in their living room. Karolee carried this forward all the way into adulthood, eventually leading a troop of her own.

Although Karolee’s first marriage did not last, it produced her oldest child, Michael. Karolee was a single mother to Michael in between marriages, which helped form a bond so close that sometimes it felt like they could read each other’s thoughts. Later, even when Karolee lost her ability to speak, this bond remained.

Karolee met the love of her life, Bill, while taking courses at Ottawa University, and on July 7, 1973, she became Mrs. Karolee Coppoc. This union produced two more children, Janet and Jim. Somehow, for all three children’s entire lives, Karolee had a way of always making each feel like they were a beloved favorite. When asked who the favorite really was, Karolee used to smile and reply to the asker, “you are my favorite oldest/middle/youngest child”--a statement which could not be debated.

Karolee’s life changed in 1983, when her husband, Bill, was seriously injured in a car accident. From that moment on Karolee became Bill’s caretaker as well as partner, nursing him back from quadriplegia through paraplegia and eventually to the ability to walk and function without pain, all while dealing with the symptoms of his traumatic brain injury. This is an especially remarkable testament, as she accomplished this while finishing college, working full time, and caring for all three children.

During this time of recovery, Karolee worked her way through jobs in education and banking, eventually finding her calling in the nursing home industry. She was an administrator for many years, most of them with American Baptist Homes of the Midwest, specializing in memory care. Among her many accomplishments was shepherding important policy through the Iowa Legislature as a member of a state-level standing advisory committee.

As Bill healed and Karolee settled into her career, her children grew to adulthood, and brought her a new generation of grandchildren, on whom she doted endlessly. When the time came to retire, Karolee chose instead to take on new work as a home health aid and run a charity for new and expectant mothers with her daughter, Janet.

As Bill and Karolee’s health declined, Janet invited them to come live on the family farm near Albert Lea, Minnesota. Karolee spent most of her waning years happy, surrounded by children, grandchildren, fresh air, and all the farm animals she had always wanted. Karolee was diagnosed with Frontal Temporal Dementia in 2020, and the next year joined the ranks of those she had cared for in memory care assisted living in the same facility where she had once done her administrator internship.

Bill passed away in July, 2025. Even through her dementia, Karolee seemed to understand he was gone, and entered hospice herself shortly after. Bill’s birthday was December 22, 2025. On that evening, Karolee became nonresponsive, and she joined him in the afterlife the following morning. That is love.

Karolee is survived by her brother, Kenneth Keelin; son Michael Coppoc and grandsons Casey-Jack and Zach; son Jim (Lindsey) Coppoc, grandsons William and Fionn and granddaughter Leslie; daughter Janet (Jerry) Thompson and grandsons Gavin, Christian and Hunter; and many loving inlaws, cousins, nieces and nephews. She is preceded in death by her husband, Bill; her parents, Spike and Irene Keelin, her sister-in-law, Valerie Keelin; and grandchildren, Kali Ann Reiman and Jayden Lee Thompson.

A Memorial Service will be held at Bridge Community Church at 4:00 pm on Saturday, January 3, with one hour visitation prior. Joint interment with Bill and supper will follow.

Donations may be made in Karolee’s memory to https://www.rachelshopemn.org/