Karen Harvey

Karen Marie Harvey died on Friday, July 17, 2026 at OhioHealth O'Bleness Hospital, Athens. Karen was born in Sioux Falls, South Dakota in 1938, and was raised in Rapid City and in the surrounding Black Hills. It was at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, South Dakota where she met her future husband, Richard, the love of her life, whom she would marry in 1960. With their two children, Aaron and Anna, they eventually made their home in Athens, Ohio in 1967. In Athens, Karen was active in the community, serving as the president of the League of Women Voters, the Athens Rotary Club, and the Friends of the Athens County Public Library.

At the urging of her friend Helen Baker, she ran for County Commissioner in 1976 and served for three terms, 1976-1988. It was during her three terms as commissioner that Karen came into her own as a champion of small government for the people; working tirelessly with all county stakeholders to represent a diverse Appalachian constituency. Karen often took the job home with her, whether by fielding phone calls about roads and bridges, or, more literally, by planting a snippet of an old rose in her beloved rose garden, likely found growing in front of an abandoned farmhouse while inspecting those same bridges and roads.

Always an eager learner, Karen received an M.A. in Political Science with a certificate in public administration from Ohio University in 1984. During her last term as commissioner, Karen drove to Capital University in Columbus many evenings to earn a law degree. That degree opened the door for her role as Domestic Relations Magistrate in the Court of Common Pleas, working for Judge Alan Goldsberry. As magistrate, Karen initiated several innovative programs aimed at supporting families going through divorces or dissolutions, including parenting education classes, a supervised visitation center for parents and children, a pro-bono legal clinic, and a mediation program.

In retirement, she traveled the world with her husband and children, visiting the UK, Scandinavia, the Netherlands, France, Spain, Italy, Crete, Sicily (where she first tried out an e-bike and on it, passed Richard, laughing, on a climb), Egypt, Turkey, Vietnam, Japan and the PRC. Even though it required scheduling alchemy, she loved every minute of it, especially safaris in Kenya, Tanzania, and South Africa. What's more, with Richard, she became addicted to bicycling tours, among them: the Loire Valley, Paris and Chicago at night, and Amsterdam to Amsterdam via a barge boat. Later, the two of them adopted Viking river cruises as yet another way to see the world, with perhaps the Amsterdam to Budapest cruise as her favorite.

She is survived by her husband, Richard; her son, Aaron, and his son, Colvin; her daughter, Anna, her husband, Darwin Neher, and their children, Riley and Finn Harvey Neher; and a brother, Richard Pool. She is preceded in death by her sister Barbara Dries, brother Greg Pool, and her daughter-in-law Pamela Faye Vander Ark Harvey, who shared her love of gardening and democracy.

A public, commemorative reception at Jagers and Sons Funeral Home will be scheduled for this fall with a private interment at Clark's Chapel Cemetery to follow. In lieu of flowers, donations should go to the Athens County Public Library, where for many years Karen was president of the Friends. Please share a memory, a note of condolence or sign the online register at www.jagersfuneralhome.com.