Karen is a life-long Nebraskan. She grew up on a farm with her parents and 3 siblings. Karen graduated with honors from Butte High School and has spent the many years since learning from “The College of Life”.  Karen and her husband Virgil were married in 1988 and they have 1 grown daughter, Vanessa, who lives in Wayne, NE.

 

Karen enjoys genealogy research, local history preservation, outdoor photography, knitting and music. She likes going on road-trips with her husband, and spending time with friends drinking coffee or making s’mores around the fire pit.

 

Prior to becoming a part of the Building Blocks team, Karen was employed for over 28 years by Butte Implement Company as their Accounting Manager. She also spent time as their Interim Parts Manager.  Karen served many years on the local Board of Education while her daughter was in school, and for over 10 years was the weekly “On Air” Butte Area News Reporter for KBRX Radio of O’Neill.

 

The addition of Karen to our Building Blocks team was the last great thing Building Blocks did in 2017, as she was hired on New Year’s Eve. She was initially hired to be our Administrative Assistant, but we quickly learned she had talents in other areas as well, and she was asked to be our File Auditor not long after her hire. Karen says, “I do like helping other people as I feel I’m a “people person”, but I really enjoy creating order out of chaos, so the actual organization and filing of documents is very rewarding and one of my favorite parts of the job!”