Karen Rae Quist

     Karen Rae Quist passed away on September 9, 2024, in her home in Sioux City, Iowa. Graveside services will be held at 2:00 pm on Tuesday, September 17, 2024, at Memorial Park Cemetery. Christy-Smith Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

     Karen was born on October 3, 1943, in Sioux City, Iowa, to Charles and Esther (Larsen) Blair. 

     Karen graduated from East High School in Sioux City with the class of 1961. She worked part time for the Red Owl grocery store chain during her junior and senior years of high school. After graduation, she then worked full-time for Tower Communications Co. as a stenographer. The next year, she moved to California and worked for 14 years at Rocketdyne in Canoga Park, California. 

     Karen met the love of her life, Robert “Bob” Quist, on a fast pitch softball field, where they both played softball in the summer of 1967. The couple was married in Las Vegas on November 16, 1968.

     While vacationing in Iowa and Pennsylvania in April of 1976, they decided to move back to Iowa, which they did in July of 1976.

     Karen and Bob opened Mother Truckers in Transit Plaza and formed a 4-wheel drive club called Mother Truckers Four Wheelers. Pickups and vans started to get very pricey along with their accessories, so they closed Mother Truckers and started a slow pitch softball complex called The King of Clubs in 1981. From there, they opened a pool and dart bar called the Q & Feather in 1988 followed by Checkers in 2002. They retired in 2013, when Bob’s health started to fail.

     Karen loved cars, especially her 1964 Chevy Corvette and later her 1973 Chevy Corvette. She also loved to bowl and was very proud when she was allowed to bowl on the Men’s Master Bowling League at Harmony Lanes in the 1980s.

     Karen is survived by her two sisters, Ellen (Kim) Karst of Ft. Collins, Colorado, and Carol Blair of Bronson, Iowa; her two nieces, Sherri (Tony) Eret of Centennial, Colorado, and Robin Karst of Ft. Collins, Colorado; as well as a few cousins.

     She was preceded in death by her husband, Bob; her parents, Charles and Esther; and a sister, Elaine Frazeur.