The Record Newspapers - Hometown News For Orange County, Texas

In search of the Heavenly home she long and passionately sought, Karen Miller Sanders departed this life Wednesday, Aug. 6, at Christus Hospital St. Elizabeth in Beaumont, with family members at her side.

Karen Ruth Miller was born Feb. 20, 1951, in Eunice, La., to Vera Brasseaux and Roy Joseph Miller Sr. She grew up in the Lake Charles area and attended LaGrange High School. On May 26, 1986, she married her life’s love, Olan Sanders, and they settled in Orange.

Karen was a member of the Catholic Daughters at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Orange, and she had taught CCD and catechism classes. Karen was a spiritual, charismatic woman with a passion for the Lord and a remarkable creativity in all she tried. She loved to travel in her younger years, and she was a talented baker and cook, interior designer and gardener. Her ladylike nature notwithstanding, she could be quite competitive with playing cards or a fishing pole in her hands.

Karen was preceded in death by her parents; brother Roy Miller Jr.; daughter Sheila Breaux, and granddaughter Casey Marie Magness.

Those left to cherish her memory are her husband; daughter Wendy Stephens Magness and husband Robbie; stepdaughter Donna Sonnier and husband Curtis; stepson Neil Sanders and wife Julie; siblings Shirlene Miller, Connie Trahan, Kenneth Miller and Jackie Trahan; aunt Brenda Brasseaux; grandchildren Josh Sonnier, Chris and Jamie Fruge, Timothy, Derian and Braden Magness, Devon and Jacob Breaux and Olivia Sanders; great-grandchildren Shelby Sonnier and Keylyn Nunez; numerous nieces, nephews and friends, and her faithful caretaker, Otis Speights.

Visitation will be Friday, Aug. 8, at Claybar Funeral Home of Orange from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. with a rosary at 6:30 p.m. A funeral Mass will be held Saturday, Aug. 9, at 10:00 a.m. at St. Mary Catholic Church in Orange. Interment service will follow at 12:30 p.m. in Consolata Cemetery, Lake Charles.

Pallbearers and honorary pallbearers will be her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Services are under the direction of Claybar Funeral Home in Orange.