Karen E. Holthaus

KAREN E. HOLTHAUS lost her courageous battle with lymphoma on February 10, 2006. Karen was born in England on August 5, 1968 and was adopted by her parents when just two weeks old. She is survived by her three-year old daughter Amanda; her parents Robert and Linda Holthaus of Beverly Hills, Fl; her brother Matthew Holthaus of Culver City, CA; her sister Rachel Holthaus of Severn, MD; seventeen Aunts and Uncles; eighteen first cousins; and many other extended family members.

She was preceded in death by her infant brother Nathan Holthaus (1970); and her cousin Lynne Keener Smith of Grand Rapids, Michigan (2005).

Karen graduated from high school in Europe in 1986, attained a Summa Cum Laude Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work from the University of Maryland, Salisbury in 1992 and a Masters Degree in Social Work from the University of Maryland at Baltimore in 1993. She was employed by the Veterans Administration as a Medical Social Worker Supervisor at the VA hospital in Baltimore.

Karen was surrounded by love from her family, extended family, birth family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, patients of the VA hospital, others whom she touched in the course of her ten years as a social worker, the staff of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, and many others-all of whom admired her for her strength and courage and her cheerful and unwavering positive outlook in the face of overwhelming physical challenges.