Karen Fraughton, treasured daughter of Elma Thompson and Dee Jay Fraughton, passed away in Taylorsville, Utah on August 13, 2026 following a brief hospitalization.

Karen was born in San Diego on December 12, 1953. She spent childhood Decembers blowing out birthday candles, baking fudge and divinity with her mother and savoring the Christmas cookies of her neighbor, Mrs. Pyke.

Mrs. Pyke would join the Fraughton Octet for Pacific Beach caroling. Unverified reports suggest a decibel uptick in “Joy to the World” during The Year of Barbie and Ken. Per Christmas morning tradition, the six Fraughton children lined up by age outside the living room. As the youngest, Karen’s beeline for her new dolls left four sisters and a brother in the dust.

Keeping up with her sister Jane on their walk to school was easier for Karen than keeping up with classroom peers. Eventually, school administrators enrolled her in a special needs curriculum at a different location. Round trips to and from Marston Jr. High inaugurated the Fraughtons’ journey of accommodating Karen’s intellectual disabilities while living the family’s best life.

For forty-three years, Karen shared a mailing address, a loving bond and an identical BBQ (BYU Blue Quotient) with her parents. Karen’s needs and idiosyncrasies spurred their adaptations, yet she also adopted—and enjoyed!—some of their pastimes. Dee taught her how to bowl (she frequently broke 100) and how to Heber (she absorbed his childhood songs, jokes, and bias toward the “correct” side of Mount Timpanogos). Mother and daughter competed in checkers and collaborated on family history. Karen became Elma’s go-to for identifying obscure faces in family photos and pairing them with interesting facts, including birthdays.

The desire to celebrate more of these birthdays in person motivated Karen and Co. to leave Southern California for Northern Utah in 1975. Preparation for Orem family gatherings meant all hands on deck, not least the fused plastic digits of certain dolls. (Two dozen nieces and nephews relished liberating Aunt Karen’s Barbie and Ken from their glossy red and blue storage cases.)

Later, after seeing off their guests from the driveway, the hosts came inside and tackled the dishes. On the windowsill above a sink-sized mountain range of Amway L.O.C. bubbles stood a small, stained-glass copy of the Serenity Prayer. Karen’s parents—especially her mother—had less truck with Team Serene Acceptance, more with Team Change What You Can. If there was any therapy, vitamin or supplement that could improve Karen’s mind, strengthen her body, calm her anxiety or boost her social skills, Elma sought after these things.

Karen and Elma developed courage, wisdom and serenity over three and a half years of nursing Dee through Parkinson’s disease. After their trio became a duo, mother and daughter moved into the Kaysville home they shared with Karen’s sister, Kaye.

This new trio moved into not only a house, but a neighborhood and an LDS ward family. For the first time since San Diego, three Fraughton siblings (Karen, Kaye, Max and his wife, Margarete) lived as close as the same street. Other neighbors—Mrs. Pyke 2.0—looked out for Karen’s safety during her solo walks, while Sister Read of the Kaysville 10th Ward looked forward to Karen’s Visiting Teaching lessons. Karen’s embrace by multiple Kaysville communities deeply enriched her later life.

The smaller circle of Kaye’s nuclear family lived across a large geographic area. As their matriarch, a gifted pianist, played lead keyboard for Team Change What You Can, the Nielson Five (Ken Sr., Rebecca, Leslie, Cari and Ken Jr.) backed her up at Kaysville HQ whenever possible.

Sometimes Kaysville HQ went on tour. Karen’s Florida to-do list reads like a fusion of wholesome recreation and great-aunt flex: collect shells on a beach near Cari’s house, add them to the children’s sandcastles, head home for board games. Kaye’s R&R profile was different. While other adults supervised puzzles and bingo, Kaye could let her guard down and relax.

Caregiving respite was at a premium over Kaye’s two decades of holding a full-time job while cooking delicious meals, maintaining Edenic landscaping and—over lively objections—styling Karen’s hair. The beautiful haven Kaye created became especially important to Karen after Elma’s death from cancer in 2012.

Kaye’s own cancer diagnosis nine years later stretched the octave between her needs and Karen’s too wide for a single hand to span. Over several weeks at HQ, Cari took a scalpel to government red tape. After securing Karen a place at the Meadow Peak Rehabilitation Center in October 2021, Cari turned her focus to Kaye and beat the scalpel into a baton.

Jane and her husband, Steve, picked up that baton and anchored Karen’s final relay stage through five years of near-daily visits to Room 127. Karen received her guests from the first-class comfort of her corner rocking chair. The weekday regulars enjoyed business-class legroom, whereas the Sunday bunch (Max, Margarete, Sue, Kaye, DeeAnn and her husband, Jim, Jane and Steve) crammed into coach. All of Karen’s siblings agreed she was a gift worth lining up (or squeezing together) to see.

As siblings queued in a different line to a different destination, Karen’s Alzheimer’s disease and auditory hallucinations made it hard for her to keep track. She continued to ask visitors about Kaye after her passing (August 2022) and Max after his (May 2023).

In December 2023, the sisters rallied to organize a morale-boosting Fraughtonpalooza for Karen’s 70th birthday. A sister/sister in-law to the handful of people setting up food and an aunt/great aunt to the dozens consuming it, Karen reigned as guest of honor and slayed in DeeAnn’s wonky birthday hat. A re-formed Fraughton Quartet (Karen, Jane, DeeAnn and Sue) even “caroled” several verses of Dee’s irreverent Bible song. To no one’s surprise, Karen’s final large family party was a doozy and a delight.

Confirmation of additional Fraughtonpaloozas may be pending (no word yet on the existence of Spirit World, Heber-compatible karaoke rooms), but Karen’s serious, steadfast belief in a life beyond the grave was well established. She and her parents anticipated a welcome release from mental and physical impairments and a joyous reunion with each other. May the doctrine that comforted Karen offer solace to all who loved her.

Karen was preceded in death by her parents; siblings Kaye and Max; brothers-in-law Ken and Brent; and nieces Rebecca, Tanja and Paige. She is survived by sisters Sue, DeeAnn (Jim) and Jane (Steve); sister-in-law Margarete; and two generations of nieces and nephews.