Karen Bye

Karen Ann Bye

January 9, 1942 –September 23,2024

Karen was the first born child of Emil and Charlotte Bye (Salewske), and her fat rosy cheeks were the talk of the town.

After graduation from high school, she and a girlfriend drove west, on what was to be the first of many roads taken during Karen’s life. A chance meeting with jockey Lonnie Knowles and those magnificent thoroughbreds at Long Acres Race Track in Renton WA, sealed the deal and together they were off! They traveled the coast from Portland Meadows, San Luis Rey Downs to Santa Anita. When retirement neared, Karen earned her degree as an LPN and they moved back to the great state of Minnesota. They lived in Sauk Rapids until Lonnie died.

Years before, our grandparents Tobias and Carolina Bye had homesteaded the family farm along CR 17 and they lived there until their sons Emil and Albert built a small house for them in town. When Karen learned that it was scheduled to be torn down she lamented to cousin Don (Albert’s son) and he promptly arranged for the little house to be moved to the farm, the place the grandparents called home.

Over the next twenty years Karen called it home too. While she didn’t venture far after she settled in, she and her cohorts at the Pequot Lakes Historical Society have shined a bright light on the journeys of our ancestors.

She was smart as a whip, never saw a British mini-series she didn’t love, and PBS was near and dear. I think she was happiest in the private solitude of her art studio, bringing memories to life in her leather work and water colors; sometimes drawing outside the lines, as artists do.

Karen is survived by her sister Terese (Bye) Russell and husband Kevin Russell, nephew Robert Bye, his wife Nikki and their girls Stella and Violet, niece Lori Manini and her girls Alexa and Hailey, cousin Don Bye’s growing brood on the farm, cousin Diane and the Kline/Bye clan in Pine River, and the Dullums in Nisswa.

In the shadow of the “Bobber”, Karen’s family invites you to celebrate her life at the Cole Memorial Building in Pequot Lakes on October 26th from noon to 2p.m. Let’s have a bite to eat, visit and take a ride on the elevator to the museum! In lieu of flowers please consider a donation to the PLHS.