Karen Wadleigh

Dates

Obituary

Karen Wadleigh, 84, of Mitchell, formerly of Mt. Vernon, SD, fell peacefully asleep in death on Saturday, March 7, 2026, at her home in Mitchell under hospice care. Memorial service will be 2:00 PM Saturday, March 21, at Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witness in Mitchell.

Karen Halle Wadleigh was born March 11, 1941, on the family farm outside St. Helena, Nebraska, to Herbert and Evelyn (Hansen) Halle.  Karen was the fourth of thirteen siblings and grew up milking cows and petting her beloved chickens.  Following graduation from Yankton High School, she attended Wayne State and earned her teaching degree. This adventure took Karen from one-room schoolhouses in Cherry County, Nebraska, to Belleview, Nebraska, teaching the 2nd grade. In Belleview, she met an Air Force captain, Richard Wadleigh, and they were married on August 9, 1969.

Karen and Richard moved to Denver, Colorado, where they enjoyed camping in the mountains and studying the Bible.  Karen dedicated her life to her God, Jehovah, and was baptized as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses on July 16, 1976. In 1979, Karen and Richard, along with their children Shawn and Sarah, moved to a farm outside of Mt. Vernon, SD. She remained there for almost 50 years.

Karen was Richard’s right-hand lady, and they worked hard together to make the farm a success. After years of hauling bales, milking cows, raising calves, taking care of sows, piglets, and her beloved chickens, Karen and Richard enjoyed many fun adventures in their camper. Travelling, whether it be to New York or California or to countries such as England, France, and Bolivia with family, as well as exploring and finding the hidden gems in the beautiful Black Hills, such as the Purple Pie Place with their dear friends, the Kapple’s, from Colorado, and visiting their brothers and sisters, brought a lot of joy.  They made a point of stopping at Kingdom Halls along the way to meet new friends as well as reconnect with old ones.  Karen kept busy knitting and had a washcloth or two on the ready to handout as a keepsake.  During this time, Karen enjoyed helping with Kingdom Hall building projects, including serving as one of the night watchmen on a building site.  She also volunteered as much time as she could, sharing the truths from the Bible that she loved with others.  These included truths such as what the near future will be like– Psalms 37:10, 11-wicked people will be no more and there will be an abundance of peace on the earth, Psalms 46:9- God will end all war, Isaiah 33:24-sickness will be gone, and Revelation 21:4-God will take away everything that brings sadness – including pain and death, as well as, the beautiful promise that those who have passed away and are sleeping in death will be resurrected by Jesus back to earth as he did in the past. – John 5:28, 29.  She now awaits those promises to be fulfilled by her loving heavenly father, Jehovah, who cannot lie.

Karen is survived by her son, Shawn and her daughter Sarah (Sean) Earleywine, granddaughter Addisyn Earleywine, step-granddaughters Jade Earleywine (Tanner) and Brooke (Michael) Thul, step great-grandchildren-Gunnar, Ashton, Collins and Davie, siblings, Kay, Kent, Karma, Todd, Judy, Jane, Berlyn and Vaughn, as well as many nieces, nephews and friends.

In lieu of flowers, memorials are suggested to the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses.

Service