Karen Sue Ash was born in Warrensburg, Missouri on October 18, 1945 to Garnett Jones and Faye (Ballard) Jones. She passed away August 21, 2016 at Western Missouri Medical Center in Warrensburg, Missouri.

She spent her childhood in Independence, Missouri and graduated from William Chrisman High School in 1963. Karen was united in marriage on December 31, 1965 to Larry Jennings Ash Sr. They spent most of their married life in the Independence, Missouri area until moving to Lowry City in 1991. Karen started working at Truman Lake Manor in 1997 as a social worker until she retired in 2013.

Death is not the evil that many believe it to be. So many of us do whatever we can to avoid it for as long as possible. We even grasp at straws sometimes to keep death away from us, but death is not the enemy. It takes us when our bodies are no longer prepared to carry on our current lives. It brings us peace and freedom from pain as God has planned. It is life that is often the enemy. The siren that convinces us to hold onto it as long as we can, even though we are filled with pain. We should let our life leave us when it is time and to do it gladly instead of with sorrow and bitterness. Jesus wants us and when we arrive we will wonder what it was that held us back so long. With joy we lived our lives with Karen through good times and bad. Her love for us and ours for her has always been and will always be. Karen will forever live in our hearts. No one will ever be able to replace her in our lives.

Karen was preceded in death by her husband, Larry Jennings Ash, Sr.; 2 sons, Jerald Phillip Ash and Larry Jennings Ash, Jr.; daughter, Julie Gene Ash and her father, Garrent Gene Jones.

Karen is survived by her mother Janice Faye Wright; daughter, Deborah Ash; grandson Joshua and his wife Katrina Ash and their three children Austin, Abbi and Karen and grandson Joseph Ash, all of the home; Tyler Ash of Lee’s Summit, Dakota Underwood of Calhoun and Summer Underwood of Bolivar, Travis Ogle of Prairie Home, Jacob, Garrett and Jenna Ash of Bolivar and her step daughter Patty Arnold of Springfield as well as many other friends and family members.