Karen K Silliman

Karen K. Silliman (Meyer) passed away peacefully in Indianola, Iowa, on September 8, 2026, surrounded by her children.

Karen was born on January 11, 1942, in Van Meter, Iowa, to Dorothy (Shambaugh) and Alvin P. Meyer. She spent her early years in Van Meter on the farm before her family moved to Winterset, where she attended Winterset High School. Karen treasured those years, making lifelong friendships and enjoying the things she loved most - riding horses, playing basketball, and spending time with her friends at slumber parties.

From an early age, Karen had a special love for animals, especially dogs. Her childhood photographs almost always included one of her beloved pets. She also discovered a lifelong love of dance, particularly tap dancing. It brought her joy throughout her childhood and eventually found its way back into her life during her retirement years in Arizona.

On September 7, 1958, Karen married Dick Silliman. Together, they built a life centered around family, hard work, friendship, and a love of entertaining. Their family grew to include four children.

Karen and Dick's greatest joy was watching their family grow. They were blessed with 12 grandchildren - Kendra, Natasha, Logan, Chelsey, Kailey, Austin, Macie, Madison, Cortland, Chance, Jackson, and Mari - who lovingly called her "Gramma K." Over the years, that family continued to grow, and Karen was overjoyed to become "G.G." to 29 great-grandchildren.

Karen and Dick shared many adventures throughout their marriage, including building successful careers in the restaurant and food concession business. Karen managed The Gold Buffet and later was the proud owner of Rookies Pub and Grille and D&K Concessions. Together, Karen and Dick received numerous awards for their food concession business. Karen also had a true passion for cooking and was an excellent cook. Her recipes, meals, and the memories created around her table will remain cherished family traditions for years to come. Most notable were the family and friends Sunday night dinners, while the children watched Wild Kingdom or a network Disney movie, the parents would enjoy fellowship and laughter.

The lifelong friendships Karen developed in high school, led to lots of fun during her young adulthood years. Her girlfriends would have "Come as you are coffee's" which meant being in your pajamas, hair curlers, and no make up... at its best...typically hosted at the Winterset City Park. In later years Halloween became a fun filled time with full head masks and costumes that would make her unrecognizable. They would stop into friends' homes and "trick or treat" until that friend would agree to join them, in full costume, and move onto the next friend's home. In later years this halloween fun included smuggling a live chicken into their victims home, under their overcoat, and leaving it as a gift in their bathroom, decorating a friends lawn with faux headstones and ultimately dropping off highly decorated Outhouses on the lawns of their unsuspecting friends.

For many years, Okoboji, Iowa, was Karen's happy place. She loved boating, cane-pole fishing, watching the water, and, perhaps most of all, having friends and family gathered around her. Karen had a true gift for entertaining, and visitors were always welcomed at the Okoboji home. The Fourth of July celebrations there became especially memorable occasions filled with family, friends, laughter, and good food.

After Dick's passing in 1999 following his battle with cancer, Karen continued to embrace life and create new memories with the people she loved.

In retirement, Karen made her home in Mesa, Arizona, where she embraced a new chapter of life. She enjoyed swimming, pottery classes, tap dancing, and the wonderful friendships she made in the Leisure World community.

For more than 20 years, Karen was blessed to share her life with her devoted companion and sweetheart, Bryan Pearson. Together, they enjoyed their life in Mesa and the friendships they had made there. Bryan also introduced Karen to another special place - the lake near Kenora, Ontario, Canada. Karen loved spending summers there and came to cherish the beauty, peacefulness, and memories made on the lake.

Karen's life was defined by the people she loved. She leaves behind her four children and their spouses, Wendy and Jack Sawyer, Winterset, Iowa, Tami and Lance Benoit, Winterset, Iowa, Todd and Valerie Silliman, Fort Collins, Colorado, and Chad and Megan Silliman, Winterset, Iowa; 12 grandchildren, their spouses; and 29 great-grandchildren. She is also survived by her devoted companion, Bryan Pearson, along with many cherished nieces, nephews, extended family members, and friends.

Karen was preceded in death by her husband, Dickie "Dick" Dale Silliman, and her siblings, Marjorie, Barbara, Frederick, and Carroll and by her parents, Dorothy and Alvin Meyer.

Her greatest legacy is not found in the businesses she built or the places she called home, but in the family she loved so deeply. Her warmth, generosity, sense of fun, love of family, and gift for making people feel welcome will live on in the generations she leaves behind.

Gramma K. and G.G. will be forever loved, forever remembered, and forever a part of the family she cherished so dearly.

In lieu of flowers, gifts made to the Karen Silliman memorial fund will be directed to programs in Madison County that support families experiencing food insecurity and provide opportunities and resources for children. These causes reflect Karen's lifelong love of cooking, her joy in bringing people together around a meal, and her belief in the importance of fellowship, family, and caring for others.