Karen M. (Piller) Blake, 75, Gettysburg, PA, formerly of St. Johnsbury, VT, loving wife and mother of 5 children, passed away on Tuesday, January 18, 2022 at her home. She went home to her savior and will be reunited with Jeffrey Rodliff, beloved son, who predeceased her in 2005. She was also predeceased by her former husband, Stephen C. Rodliff in 1997.
Karen was born on November 26, 1946 in Philadelphia, PA, to John and Helen Piller. She graduated from Frankford High School and enjoyed singing with the “Ambassadors of Song”, which toured throughout Europe. She also attended East Stroudsburg State College. Early in her career, she was a telephone operator, bank teller, and taught at the St. Johnsbury School District, but most recently was a department manager at JC Penney’s store in St. Johnsbury.
Karen is survived by her husband, Donald E. Blake. Karen and Donnie enjoyed traveling for the first ten years of their life together. They would have celebrated 19 years together on April 19th. Karen was a former member of the United Church of Christ in Lyndonville, VT before retiring and moving to North Carolina. She and Donnie spent seven years there before moving to Gettysburg in 2016.
Karen always enjoyed spending time with her children and grandchildren and looked forward to visits on Easter or at Christmas, which was her favorite time of the year. She was an avid reader and was passionate about rescuing animals, particularly her two dogs, Cormac and Emily. Her dogs miss her already.
In addition to her husband, Karen is survived by four children: Michael Diemer (Jill) of Shelburne, VT, Kristin Walsh (Brendan) of Shelburne, VT, Bethany Bedard (Shawn) of Kihei, Hawaii and Daniel Rodliff (Kim) of Shelburne, VT. She is also survived by 9 grandchildren: Andre, Juliet, Mira, Jonathan, Tre, Tyler, Lili, Chase and Holden. She also left two step-children: Miranda Blake-Olson (Landon) of Morgan UT, and Rebecca Butler (Jon) of Moultonborough, NH as well as 4 step-grandchildren: Rhoades, Luke, Rowan and Roslyn.
A Celebration of Karen’s Life will take place at a later date in Vermont. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Lyndonville, VT SPCA. Online obituary and condolences available at monahanfuneralhome.com
