Karen Angela Kirby died peacefully on her 72nd birthday, March 8, 2010, at home in Anchorage after a 21-month struggle with lung cancer.

A memorial service will be at 1 p.m. Thursday at Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish Chapel, 3900 Wisconsin St. A celebration of life will be after the memorial service in the Guadalupe Room on the parish campus.

Born March 8, 1938, to Raymond and Angela Kirby, Karen was one of six siblings raised in Cincinnati, Ohio. Karen pursued religious, history and classics studies and graduated cum laude from St. Mary's, Notre Dame, Ind., in 1960. She subsequently received her Juris Doctor degree with honors from Salmon P. Chase School of Law in 1965.

Karen lived life to make the world a better place, starting with founding a teen activities center in Cincinnati. She then established the first Legal Aid organization in Middletown, Ohio, and directed the organization from 1968 to 1973.

She relocated to Anchorage in 1973 to become supervising attorney at Alaska Legal Services.

Karen fell in love with Alaska and considered it her home. She founded a law practice in Bethel in 1980 and served in various capacities in the court system as a guardian ad litem and youth advocate; for the Alaska Bar Association as the Kuskokwim representative; and on the Alaska State Victims' Compensation Board.

In 1991 she closed her practice and moved to Anchorage, where she gave much, in countless large and small ways, to the community, friends and family. She was a co-founder of Bean's Cafe in 1979, and an active volunteer at many other charitable organizations, including Catholic Social Services, Hospice of Anchorage, the Alzheimer's Association and the Alaska Women's Resource Center. She served as a volunteer eucharistic minister at Providence Hospital for many years during the 1990s.

It was said of Karen that she had a heart as large as the great outdoors. She had a way, with unsurpassed warmth, of connecting with people deeply in a very short time. She did much for others that made an actual difference in their lives.

Karen enjoyed many varied interests. An avid reader, she also wrote children's stories to help pay for college. She became a skilled deep-sea diver and sailor, sailing from California to Mexico to Hawaii and back to Vancouver, British Columbia. She was also an emergency medical technician, a licensed private pilot, a licensed scuba instructor and a skilled chef. She ran a gourmet kitchen at a premium sportfishing camp on the upper Togiak River in the Tikchik national wildlife refuge. In her later years her interests turned to science and naturalist areas and she became a wildflower enthusiast and skilled gardener.

Karen is survived by her companion and friend of 36 years, Maren Carey of Anchorage; her beloved sister, Jean Marie Beckman of Chicago; beloved brothers, David Kirby of New Port Richey, Fla., and Grant Kirby and Steve Kirby of Cincinnati; 11 nieces and nephews; numerous great-nieces and -nephews; and many loving friends.

Karen's remains were donated to Science Care for research purposes.

In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the charities listed at www.legacy.com.