Karen Gail Pierce Duska Karen Gail Duska, age 64, formerly of Erie, died on Tuesday March 27, 2007 at Scripps Greene Hospital in La Jolla, California.

She was born November 4, 1942 in Erie. She was preceded in death by her parents. Clyde Thomas and Katherine June Pearo Pierce, and a brother, Samuel Herbert Harmon.

Karen graduated from Academy High School in 1960. She attended Mercyhurst College, and graduated from the University of Hawaii in Oahu where she earned a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in Audiology and Speech Pathology. She also earned a minor in Elementary Education.

Karen lived the last 34 years of her life as a resident of California - the last 31 years in Poway, California. She retired from the San Marcos Unified School District in San Marcos, California after serving as a sixth grade teacher, a teacher of children with special needs, and a district-wide resource coordinator for children requiring speech therapy. Karen was known for her keen intelligence and the ability to include everyone in a conversation. She was a brilliant conversationalist, welcoming everyone, regardless of age, into the discussion. Karen was also known for her acerbic wit and being a master of self-deprecating humor. She loved being a grandmother, and was extremely proud that her two granddaughters were intelligent, independent, caring and thoughtful. Karen was a voracious reader, who especially loved reading well-written mystery and suspense novels. She also loved camping (especially if a 4-star hotel was involved) along the beautiful California coastline, and fishing with her husband (whom she always out fished) at Poway Lake and off the beaches of California.

Karen is survived by her loving husband of nearly 45 years, Robert William Duska, whom she married on August 4, 1962 at Saint John’s Catholic Church in Erie; her three daughters and two sons-in-law, Rebecca Farmer and her husband Mark of Gilbert, Arizona, Mary Duska-de Lepe of San Diego, California, and Katherine Casha and her husband Mike of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina; and her two granddaughters, Kristen and Kimberly Farmer of Gilbert, Arizona. She is also survived by three sisters, Trudy Harmon-Pierce of Erie, Pennsylvania; Cheryl Till and her husband Ronald of Fairview, Pennsylvania; and Sharon Thompson of Erie, Pennsylvania; and several nieces and nephews.

Viewing and services were held on Friday, March 30, 2007 at the Poway-Bernardo Mortuary. Private burial was held in the Dearborn Memorial Park Cemetery in Poway on Wednesday, April 4, 2007 with Rev. Michael Froidurot of Saint Gabriel’s Catholic Church officiating. The family suggests that memorial contributions be made to Saint Vincent de Paul/Father Joe’s Villages, a homeless shelter and food pantry in downtown San Diego, at 3350 E Street, San Diego, CA 92102-3332.

Published in the Erie Times-News from 4/6/2007 - 4/8/2007.