Karen Elaine Steele McGaffey
January 7, 1961 - March 20, 2025
Karen Elaine Steele McGaffey, daughter of Fred and Audrey Steele, wife to Kevin McGaffey, loving mother to Sean, Brendan (Sakina McGaffey) and Tanner (Becky McGaffey), and sister to David Steele (Sonya Steele), passed peacefully at home with family at her side on the first day of Spring 2025.
Karen lived a full and passionate life, despite it being prematurely shortened by cancer. From growing up all over Ontario and the waters of Georgian Bay to California as the family business moved, she excelled in her studies and formed lifelong friendships wherever she went. A lifelong lover of the sciences, Karen was inquisitive, intellectual, meticulous and passionate about education—traits she instilled in her own children and her many students as a high-school chemistry and earth sciences teacher later in her career.
She was a force to be reckoned with, never wavering in her dedication to her family and friends to whom she gave so much. She loved dogs, puzzles and knitting, at points turning the living room into a blanket and hat factory in-between competing in the daily Wordle and Crosswords and while throwing tennis balls for her treasured “Tollers” Piper and later Stryker. She enjoyed the outdoors, organizing numerous family canoe and camping trips and had the opportunity to visit natural wonders all over Canada and beyond. She could turn any experience into a learning opportunity, making use of early morning beach walks as well-disguised lessons on oceanography and geology.
She also knew how to throw a party or two, with the yearly McGaffey Christmas parties (employing her young children as bartenders) and the many days leading-into-nights on her beloved Anna Maria Island warmly cherished. To the very end Karen was a natural born leader and obsessive organizer, always able to take charge of any situation and arranging and hosting an entire baby shower from a hospital bed in the last weeks of her life.
Her presence (and banana chocolate chip muffins) will be profoundly missed but lovingly and passionately remembered always by her family and the many, many friends she made throughout her life. Her tremendous courage and fighting spirit in the face of so much adversity inspired all who she met and will live on in all who had the pleasure of witnessing it.
The family would like to recognize and thank Karen’s dedicated and caring team of doctors, nurses and staff in the Lakeridge Health System for their support, expertise and professionalism—a cure may have never been in the cards, but she, her family and friends were given the gifts of time and comfort through their endless efforts.
Visitation will be held at Barnes Memorial Funeral Home, 5295 Thickson Rd. N. Whitby on Saturday, March 29th, from 10:00 am until 12:00 Noon. A memorial service will follow immediately in the Barnes Chapel, with a reception to follow.
Donations in memory of Karen are being accepted for the Canadian Cancer Society.
Memories and notes of condolence may be shared at Barnes Memorial Funeral Home.
