Karolyn Ann Fish

Karolyn was born November 6, 1946, in Chadron, Nebraska to John and Henrietta Luben of Crawford, Nebraska. Karolyn attended elementary school in Crawford until December of 1959.  Karolyn’s father John worked for Northwestern Bell as a telephone technician in Crawford and managed the Crawford telephone office. John was transferred to Chadron and managed the Chadron office and managed the technical side of the operations there.  The family in December of 1959 consisted of Karolyn’s father, John, mother Henrietta, Karolyn and younger brother Bill who was born on November 2, 1952.

Karolyn attended Chadron in junior high as a seventh grader in December of 1959. In May of 1965 she graduated from the Chadron High School. In September of 1965 Karolyn started college at Kearney State College as a freshman. She majored in consumer science and biological science. In 1967 she transferred to Chadron State College where she continued her studies. She changed her major field in the fall semester of 1968 to medical technology.

After graduation from Chadron State College in the spring of 1969, she accepted an internship at Saint Joseph’s Hospital as a medical technologist. When her year of internship was up at Saint Joseph’s, she moved to Sidney, Nebraska where her parents had moved in 1965.

Karolyn worked at the Sidney Memorial Hospital, after which she attended the University of Nebraska at Lincoln to receive a Master’s Degree in Foods and Nutrition.  In August of 1970 Karolyn married Terry Christopher of Chadron who was her high school and college sweetheart.  The couple moved to Duluth, Minnesota where she worked at a large local hospital.  Karolyn was a registered dietitian by then designing diets for burn patients and patients addicted to alcohol and drugs. 

Terry’s work took the couple to Chicago where Karolyn got a position with Sugar Foods.  Karolyn enjoyed working for Sugar Foods and advanced to several different management positions including a vice-presidency.  The couple moved again as Terry’s job with Amoco Oil Company took them to Houston, Texas.

Karolyn landed a new job with Sysco Foods while in Houston.  Sysco was a huge company concerned with food research, development, and distribution.  Because of her background in food, nutrition, and dietetics she excelled at Sysco as well. 

The next move as to Castle Pines, Colorado, where Terry now worked for British Petroleum and Karolyn was still with Sysco.  Sysco closed their Denver office so Karolyn took a teaching position at Colorado University in Boulder, Colorado. 

Karolyn’s father, John, passed away on February 28, 1981, leaving her widowed mother living in Sidney, Nebraska.  Karolyn and her mother were quite close and as her mother’s health got worse Karolyn and Terry moved back to Sidney to help take care of her.  Here Terry and Karolyn started an embroidery business to help bolster their income as Terry had retired from British Petroleum.  Karolyn’s mother passed away on December 18, 1998.  At that time Karolyn had started a dietetic consulting business.  At one time she was the consulting dietitian for thirteen to fifteen nursing homes and hospitals in western Nebraska. 

Terry died in February of 2008, and Karolyn kept her dietetic consulting work going.  She decided to move to Chadron in 2012 and cut the number of her clients back as well.  Karolyn would go to the Chadron Senior Center for lunch and in 2019 met Guy Fish of Chadron who was widowed in February of 2016.  Guy and Karolyn started dating that fall. 

On April 23, 2021, Guy and Karolyn were wed in Saint Patrick’s Catholic Church in Chadron.  Karolyn and Guy lived happily together until she passed away on November 7, 2023.  They had four wonderful years together.