Karen Marie Reinke died suddenly from complications of abdominal surgery at Brooksville Regional Hospital in Brooksville, Fla. She was the wife of the late Robert R. Reinke who predeceased her in 2002. Born in Chicago on Sept. 8, 1946, she was the daughter the late Thomas and Ida (Monica) Misiano. She was raised and lived on the 7700 block of Monroe in Forest Park most of her life until her husband and parents moved with her to Florida in 1998. Karen was active Catholic at St. Bernadine’s parish. Her memorial service on October 28 was attended by more than 100 family members and friends.
She will be deeply missed by her sons: Matthew Reinke and his wife Karen of Bellevue, Washington and Michael Reinke and his wife Lisa of Chesapeake, Virginia. She was also the Grandmother of six, all of whom will miss their
“Grammy”: Hailee (9) Megan (9), Ashley (8), Michael Jr. (6), Andrew (6), Caiden (4).
Since moving to Florida, she developed and maintained three great passions and hobbies: The first was her love of her children and grandchildren, always interested in there comings and goings and very proud of all of their accomplishments. The second was her excellent cooking and baking skills. She was an executive in the Sons of Italy and Knights of Columbus Women’s Auxiliary where she was able to use those cooking and baking skills at many functions over the years. She was the one that all looked to to organize any type of special event.
And finally, she developed herself into an award winning amateur painter. This was her main passion that occupied the bulk of her spare time. She learned various genres of painting and over the last few years became an active teacher to many students in the Tampa Bay area.
