The staff at the Mabel Dodge Luhan House deeply regrets the recent passing of our beloved Karen Sue Young. We will miss her not only for her leadership and guidance, but also for her friendship, wisdom, and humor. Our heartfelt love goes out to her family and friends.
Karen Sue Young passed away on September 12, 2015 at her home in the arms of family. Predeceased by her parents, Kenneth Johnson and Sarah Ball Johnson, and sister Jane Evelyn Johnson, Karen is survived by sons and spouses Shawn Young and Christopher Woo, Kevin and Wylene Young; grandchildren Austin Young and his wife Krista, and Caitlin Young; brother and wife Stuart and Fran Johnson, and sister Christine Holland; nieces Tracie Oliver and Kelly Holland; nephew and family Justin, Tammy and Jacob Holland; many other family members, and numerous friends.
Born in Geneseo, Illinois in 1941, Karen Sue Johnson graduated from Longmont High School after the family moved to Colorado. She received her LPN after attending Nurses Training at the University of Colorado in Boulder. She garnered further degrees in Museum Studies and Anthropology from Arizona State University. That background led to Karen’s first trip to Taos in 1969. She conducted a field school with her former husband Jon Young for four seasons. Five years later the couple moved their family to Taos. Karen found work at the Kit Carson Foundation where she developed an interpretive plan for the Blumenschein Home, the Martínez Hacienda and the Taos Morada.
Her next job came from George and Kitty Otero, then owners of the Mabel Dodge Luhan House. She helped run the Global Realities program. The next seven years Karen worked at the Millicent Rogers Museum as museum educator and acting director. During this time she designed and constructed her own pumice-and-adobe home. Karen also served as director of the Northern Pueblos Institute through Northern New Mexico Community College. She later returned to the Taos Historic Museums (formerly the Kit Carson Foundation) as co-director. Her skill in writing successful grants helped with innovative programming and education at these historic structures.
Simultaneously, an interest in alpacas blossomed into a new venture. At the 1995 Taos Wool Festival Karen won a macho (male) in a raffle. Fifteen years later her herd numbered over 30 animals. She managed to sustain them and her business, Morning Star Alpacas, through the occasional sale of an animal and the wool.
The Mabel Dodge Luhan House, under current management of the Attiyeh Foundation, recruited Karen as consulting director where she helped establish policy and develop educational programming and marketing plans. In 2010, through the “Mabel Dodge Luhan and the Remarkable Women of Taos” blog, she helped launch the year-long 2012 Town of Taos education traveler theme, the Remarkable Women of Taos. To follow a former passion, Karen made two trips to Scotland to learn about the archeology of the Orkney Islands. Karen continued her consulting work with her Mabel Dodge Luhan House family to the end.