Karen Nancy Bergendorf

Karen Nancy Bergendorf loving sister and aunt passed away peacefully while holding the hand of her sister Natalie on April 8, 2021, in Pocatello, ID., at the age of 69 after a long struggle with diabetes.

Karen was born on July 2, 1951, in San Diego, CA, to Harold and Evelyn Bergendorf. She graduated from Pocatello High School in 1969 where she was active in drill team. She went to college at BYU in Provo Utah where she received her master's degree in English. She served a mission in Taipei Taiwan for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints where she learned to speak Mandarin Chinese.

When Karen was young, she loved to play tennis and softball. She loved to dance, especially with her Uncle Ralph and her brother Craig. She took wonderful care of her little sister Natalie and baby-sat her as she grew up. She always had Natalie come to visit in Provo and took her to do fun things with her roommates. She was a wonderful seamstress and made beautiful clothes for herself. She loved to watch football and Steve Young. She loved to go to Dodgers and Padres baseball games while living in California. She loved the ocean very much and loved to travel. She loved going to England to visit her mom's family and her cousins. She was thrilled to go to Wimbledon to watch tennis in England. Karen never had children of her own, so her nieces and nephews were like her children and brought much joy and happiness into her life. She loved to go to their baseball and soccer games. She had a great love of literature and always bought books for the kids. She was always bringing back fun presents from England and China to give to family. She loved to come home for Thanksgiving and Christmas as much as she could.

Karen lived in San Diego for many years by her big sister Larraine and they were very close. She worked for the Housing Commission. She later started her dream job teaching English as a second language in Guangzhou China at Clifford School. She lived in China a few different times and had many wonderful experiences and made so many life-long friends over there and loved her students. She climbed the Great Wall and was so proud of that awesome experience. She traveled to Hong Kong. Her family loved to listen to her stories and get postcards of all her adventures. She also took a job in England teaching English for a short time, and she taught English at BYU-Hawaii for 3 years where she made many more friends.

In July 2008, Karen started a job as the Assistant Director and then Director of Selnate International school in Provo. She had a huge impact on the school. She was hired because the school Director wanted it to become accredited and she had the best credentials. She helped them through a very difficult and stringent accreditation process over a few years. She was always dedicated and took academics very seriously. She made many life-long friends at the school and touched the lives of many students. She retired from Selnate in December of 2019 and moved back to Idaho.

Karen was always an active member of the LDS church and served in numerous callings teaching in primary and Relief Society. She was a wonderful ministering sister and served many people over the years. She was a very special aunt and sister to her family and was always there for us to talk to and she will be deeply missed!

She was preceded in death by her parents Harold and Eve Bergendorf and her older sister Larraine who just passed away 3 short months ago.

She is survived by her brother Craig Bergendorf and Lorna of Idaho Falls. Her sister Natalie Poole of Chubbuck. Her brother-in-law Wayde Clark of San Diego. Her nieces and nephews. Scott and Jacquelyn Bergendorf, Janette and TJ Wells, Keri and Will Taylor and Brandon Bergendorf. Cathryn and Wesley Clark. Tiffani Poole, Justin and Chelsey Poole, and Nathan Poole. All her cousins and many great nieces and nephews.

The family would like to thank Quinn Meadows Care Center for the love and care that they showed to Karen over the last 5 months and Heritage Hospice for their support.

The family will have a small graveside service for family and close friends of Karen on Sunday, April 18th at 1:00 pm at Mountain View Cemetery in Pocatello, Idaho.

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