Karen Szala-Meneok

Mother, wife friend.

Born: 1951-02-10
Died: 2023-07-03 in Hamilton, Ontario
Interred: St. Augustine, Dundas

Born February 10th, 1951 in Fort Meade, Maryland to an army family, Karen lived throughout the United States and in Turkey into her high school years. She completed high school in the U.S., and went on to obtain a B.A. at the University of Massachusetts. Then she was off to Newfoundland for her M.A. at Memorial University, culminating in a PH.D. in Anthropology from McMaster University. Soon after arriving at Mac she met John (Meneok) who became her husband of 44 years, 8 months and 22 days when, sadly, she left us. Karen enjoyed many hobbies, including but not limited to singing in the Canadian Martyrs’ Church choir, and photographing nature or “objects of unusual size”. Karen, always the cultural anthropologist, enjoyed a varied career finishing as the Senior Ethics Officer at McMaster. Karen was a devout Catholic and she had a long history with Canadian Martyrs Church, where her funeral mass will be held Tuesday. July 11th at 11 am. Viewings will be held from 2-4 pm and 7-9 pm on the 10th at the Turner Family Funeral Home, 53 Main St., Dundas. She leaves behind her husband John, son Luke, sister Andrea, and a plethora of nieces, nephews, cousins, in-laws and friends. In celebration of Karen’s life, perform an act of random kindness, or give your family an extra long hug (whether they want it or not). A light has gone out of the world and it falls to us left behind to try to make up the loss.