Karen Kay Atkinson, 76, entered into rest on Sunday, March 19, 2023.

Karen was born December 19, 1946, to the late Frank and Patricia Kiplinger. She lived in South Dakota as a child and moved to Wyoming as a young adult, where she met her husband Eugene and started a family of her own. She moved to Dickinson, North Dakota in 1979, where she worked as a preschool teacher until 1999, when she moved to Augusta, Georgia to open a home daycare before the birth of her first grandchild. Her love of children enriched the lives of many families until she retired from daycare in 2016 and began second careers as an art photographer and kitten foster for a local animal rescue group.

Karen was independent, witty, creative, and passionate about the welfare of children and animals, women's rights, and her artwork, but her greatest joy in life was her family.

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband, Eugene Atkinson; and her brother, Frank Kiplinger. Family members left to cherish her memory include her son, Brian Atkinson; her daughter, Kimara Travis; her son-in-law, Joseph Travis; her grandchildren, Sean and Katherine Travis; her sister, Jean Olsen; and her brother, Ward Kiplinger.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the animal rescue she fostered for, Molly's Militia www.mollysmilitia.org, or Child Enrichment Inc. www.childenrichment.org