Karen Sue Shurtz Miller

Karen Sue Miller, 79, of Bullard, TX passed away at her Emerald Bay home with her family and friend on Monday, August 8, 2022. A memorial service celebrating Karen’s life will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, August 11, 2022 at Emerald Bay Community Church located at 160 La Salle Road, Bullard, TX 75757. Reverend Wes Bynum will be officiating. Karen will be laid to rest at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, August 13, 2022 at Hope Cemetery in Arkansas City, KS. Karen Sue Hatton was born to Reginald Howard Hatton and Hazel Mae Foreman on March 3, 1943 in Winfield, KS. Karen was a very energetic and inquisitive child who loved life, friends, school, animals and God. She was known for walking to church by herself as a child and thanking God for allowing her to be born a girl in America. Growing up in the small rural communities of northern Oklahoma and southern Kansas provided Karen with life experiences that would make up and define her character in later years. She was a very genuine and warm individual. She had the ability to be very resourceful, the ability to lift others up with her infectious smile and loving nature, the ability to be a friend that everybody knew was sincere, the ability to extend charity with dignity and the ability to light a room up with her humor, wit and even her sarcasm. She was a proud graduate of Arkansas City High School in 1961 and loved attending their reunions. Karen married her high school sweetheart, Gaylord Lyle Shurtz, from Arkansas City, KS on August 12, 1962 and they made their homes in various cities across the country as he pursued his career with Phillips Petroleum Company. Karen was a multi-talented person who excelled at artistic endeavors such as painting, sewing, home design, decorating and landscaping. Karen was a successful entrepreneur as well as she was the owner of her own fabric store, a licensed real estate agent and a graduate from the University of Oklahoma at the age of 54 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Occupational Therapy. Karen was a very devoted mother to her two daughters, Michelle Dee Richardson & Tiffany Lynn Hull. She will always be dearly remembered for her unconditional love, her compassion, her guidance and her physical and emotional involvement in her daughter’s lives. As much as Karen loved being a mother and wife, her maternalistic nature upped its game when she was blessed with her four grandchildren. She made countless trips to Houston, TX and Edmond, OK to be part of her grandkids lives and events for the past 31 years thus influencing another generation with her love, support and mentoring as well. All four cannot remember an important time in their lives that she was not there to share it with them. Karen was just beginning to shower her amazing traits and love on to yet another generation with the arrival of her great-grandson, Karter Cash McNeil, last year. Karen is now united in heaven to celebrate the glory of God’s blessings with her loved ones that have gone before her including her husband, Gaylord Shurtz; her parents, Reginald & Hazel Hatton; her brothers, Don & Ken Hatton; her sisters, Patricia Townsley & Shirley Bucher; and her in-laws, Lyle & Francis Shurtz. She leaves behind to cherish her memory her daughter and son-in-law, Michelle & Monte Richardson of League City, TX; her daughter and son-in-law, Tiffany & Don Hull of Edmond, OK; her granddaughter and husband, Kelsey & Matt McNeil of League City, TX; her granddaughter, Evan Schlinke of Austin, TX; her granddaughter, Courtney Richardson of The Colony, TX; her grandson, Tanner Schlinke of Oklahoma City, OK; her great-grandson, Karter McNeil of League City, TX; her brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Dennis & Ruthie Shurtz of Arkansas City, KS; her sister-in-law, Lynn Hatton of Ponca City, OK along with many loving nieces and nephews. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to your favorite Humane Society for Pets in honor of Karen Sue Miller’s lifelong love toward all animals great or small.

Karen Sue Shurtz Miller

March 3, 1943 - August 8, 2022