Karen Goodell

MUSCATINE, Iowa – Karen Jo Goodell, 69, passed away on Sunday, December 22, 2019, at her home.

Funeral Service will be held at 10:30 am on Saturday, January 4, 2020, at Zion Lutheran Church. Reverend Steve Cauley will officiate. The Ralph J. Wittich-Riley-Freers Funeral Home will be in charge of arrangements. Visitation will be at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, January 4, 2019, at the church. Memorials may be made to the Muscatine Humane Society. Online condolences: www.wittichfuneralhome.com

Karen was born September 7, 1950, in Clinton, the daughter of Lloyd Pirch and Margaret Swanson Pirch.

She graduated from the University of Northern Iowa in 1975 with a degree in English and earned her Master of Library and Information Science from the University of Iowa in 2001.

Among other jobs, she was a mail carrier in Muscatine and a college reference librarian at Palmer Chiropractic College in Davenport. She was a faithful member of Zion Lutheran Church and enjoyed singing, bell choir, reading, cross-stitch, and her cats.

Those left to honor her memory include her two children, Erinne Goodell and husband, Kirk Paulsen, of Portland, Oregon, and Matt Goodell and wife, Andrea, and grandchildren, Lexi and Ian Goodell of Holland, Michigan; and two brothers, Jim Pirch of Rock Island, and Jerry Pirch of Clinton.

She was preceded in death by her parents.

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