Karen A. (Sheehan) Lord, 71, of Manchester, died July 28, 2015 at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA after a sudden illness.
She was born in Manchester on October 31, 1943 to John J. Sheehan, esq. and Ellinor (Nielsen) Sheehan. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Connecticut College and a master’s degree from Keene State College.
Following 10 years of teaching at Trinity High School, Karen spent the remaining 25 years of her career in the art department at Central High School, retiring in 2003.
She continued to be active in retirement, practicing her art through studies at Kimbal Jenkins School in Concord. She served five terms as a selectwoman for Ward One in Manchester and was a volunteer for many political campaigns.
Karen followed in her father’s footsteps, both politically and as a trustee for the Manchester City Library and Canterbury Shaker Village. Most recently, she had been a director of the New Hampshire Library Association. She was also an active member of the Unitarian Universalist Church in Manchester and was a member of the Interrogation Club of Manchester and proud to be included among its women.
Karen spread her talent and energy widely in her community and her state. Most of all she loved her family, her gardens, reading and travel, particularly to Ireland.
She will be greatly missed by family and her many friends and colleagues. As both a teacher and an active volunteer, she touched and influenced many lives during her own very productive span.
She was predeceased by her parents and by a brother, John J. Cullity, esq.
The family includes her husband, Bob Lord of Manchester and his daughter, Amy and her wife, Elizabeth Lord; a daughter, Samantha J. Chicaderis of Jericho, VT; her sisters, Susan and her husband, Bob Pearsall, of Franklin and Mary and her husband, Tom Moore, of Parkton, MD; many nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews all of whom Karen loved and was very proud.
The funeral was held on Monday, August 3, 2015 at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 669 Union St., Manchester.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Manchester City Library Foundation, 405 Pine St., Manchester, NH 03104, or to the Canterbury Shaker Village, 288 Shaker Rd., Canterbury, NH 03224.