Karen French Sears

Karen French Sears, shown here with 2nd husband Donald French, formerly of Montecito, died March 18th in Palm Harbor Florida in her sleep. She was 95.

Karen was born in Syracuse, New York, attended Syracuse University and taught briefly at Cornell.
She married her first husband, Daniel French I 1943, had two children, Karen J. and Samuel C. while living I Cazenovia, New York.

The couple divorced in 1952, and she moved to Wolfeboro, New Hampshire. She then married Donald French, shown here. The family subsequently moved west and settled in Santa Barbara. She was at one time president of the local PTA, then joined the Junior League and became president of that body. Donald died in 1964 and was buried locally.

After his death, Karen later met and married Allen C. Sears, a Santa Barbara insurance broker and author in 1965. They lived in Montecito until 1974, then moved eventually to Scottsdale, AZ, where they lived until Allen’s death in 1998.

In 2000 Karen moved to Limerick, Pennsylvania to be near her son, Samuel and his wife Gail, daughter Gina. She lived independently until 2013, when she moved into a senior facility for independents. In 2016 she moved again to Palm Harbor, Florida to be helped through her final years by her daughter, Karen Weiss. She remained in the Manor Care facility in Palm Harbor until her passing.

Karen’s parents, Marie and Edward Moyer, of Syracuse are deceased. Her Brother, Harvey has also passed away. Her first husband, Daniel, died in 1993. She has two children, Samuel C. of Holland, PA and Karen J. Weiss of Palm Harbor. She also has a granddaughter, Gina Louise French of Pottstown, PA. and a great granddaughter, Margaret Pope of Pottstown, PA.

Karen has been cremated and her internment will be at the Santa Barbara Cemetery on Thursday, July 19 at 2:00 PM. She will be attended by Fr. Jerry Anderson of All Saints by the Sea, and her son, Samuel and his wife, Gail.