Karen Joanne Flaming

Karen was born in Lindsborg, Kansas, a very small Swedish tourist town. She was the youngest
of five siblings. She learned how to play “Mary Had a Little Lamb” by ear when she was 3
years old and that started her love of music. She could play the piano, organ, accordion and
violin. She accepted Christ as her Saviour at a young age and devoted her life to God and the
Church. At every church she belonged to, she was very active in the music ministry, playing the
piano and singing/leading the choir. In 1962 she moved to California and married David
Lundin. In 1963, their first daughter Tamara was born and four years later, their twin daughters
Tonja and Kris were born. In her thirties, she was diagnosed with a rare disease, Mastocytosis,
and given a 25% chance of survival. She was determined to beat those odds and lived to be 82.
She always wanted to drive a bus, and even went through all the classes to get her license, but
when it came time to actually drive the bus, she was devastated to discover she was allergic to
the exhaust fumes, due to her disease, and had to give up on that dream. In 1983, the family
moved to Paradise, and she ended up getting divorced a few years later. She decided to go back
to school at Chico State University to get her BA in Psychology, where she met Jake Flaming.
He was her cowboy, and they loved to square dance together. They were married in 1992, but
soon discovered that Jake had cancer and he would pass away a year later. She opened up
Pages & Patchwork in Paradise in 1994, a book and gift store, and had that shop for several
years. She moved around after that, Las Vegas (to be near Kris and her grandsons) and
Lindsborg, before finally settling back in Magalia and devoting her time to the Magalia Pines
Baptist Church and the women's ministry there. She taught the women's Sunday School class
and had an annual women's retreat called Heartstrings of Prayer.
She loved to sew, making most of her family's clothing, and she loved to make crafts (quilting,
tole painting, mixed media, etc.) and she passed on the love of crafting to her children. She was
a beautiful oil painter, but had to give that up, as she was allergic to the oil paints due to her
disease. She loved jigsaw puzzles, even had a 500-piece puzzle that was all yellow, on both
sides! She bought a 5,000-piece puzzle of a Rembrandt painting (mostly browns and dark
colors) and had to bribe family and friends with dinner to help her work it. It covered a 4x8
piece of plywood in the living room and took several months to complete. She loved to write,
had several books she wanted to get published but never did, and even wrote a musical and
several poems. Later in life, she enjoyed going to yard sales, looking for treasures to
incorporate into her crafts.
She was preceded in death by her husband Jake, her siblings Carol, Ray, and Charlotte, and her
daughter Tamara. She is survived by her sister Arlene, her daughters Tonja (Paul) and Kris, her
grandchildren Denise, Keith (Lucas) and Ryan, great-granchildren Brandon, Rachel and Leah,
and many nieces and nephews.
There will be a memorial service on August 3, 2024, at 11am at Magalia Pines Baptist Church,
14098 Skyway, in Magalia. Refreshments to follow.

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