Page created by: Carl Bartone

In Loving Memory of Karen Bartone
June 7, 1942 – June 18, 2025
Karen Bartone passed away peacefully at her home in Season’s Retirement Community in Vancouver, surrounded by her loving family.
Born in Toronto, Ontario to John and Suzanne (née Lawrie) McKnight, she grew up in the Scarborough neighborhood and attended Winston Churchill CI. She taught elementary school for three years before moving west to Vancouver BC to become a flight attendant for Canadian Pacific Airlines in 1966.
While on a flight layover in Hawaii, she met her future husband, Eric Denton of Penticton, who was a Canadian Pacific pilot. They married in November 1967 and settled in Kerrisdale, where they raised three children, Craig (Lindsey Redlich), Lindsay (Rob Zelisko), and Jamie.
Karen loved to travel. Her wanderlust began as a young woman when she spent six months traveling through Europe with two friends. With Eric, they took advantage of airline passes to see much of the world and introduced their children to exotic places. They also lived in Lima, Peru for two years as Eric was stationed there to pilot CP flights originating in Canada onward to Chile and Argentina. In her travels, she managed to visit most of Canada and the US, much of Latin America and Europe, and parts of Asia and Africa.
Always active in sports in her school days, Karen focused on tennis as an adult. She spent much time honing her game at Jericho and the Arbutus Club. Her competitiveness also extended to the bridge table where she was a keen player. Upon Eric’s passing in 1991, she immersed herself in tennis and bridge with her many friends at the Arbutus Club. Other favorite pastimes were creating needlepoint masterpieces and singing with the Sweet Adelines.
It was through bridge that she re-met her second husband, Carl, who she had known twenty years earlier in Lima. He was visiting Vancouver to play in the North American Bridge Championships at the Convention Centre, while Karen ran the hospitality desk for the tournament. The rest as they say is history. They soon married and settled in Washington, DC where Carl worked for the World Bank.
Upon Carl’s retirement, they moved to the Bonita Bay Club in Bonita Springs, Florida where Karen became an avid golfer. With little prior experience, she applied herself to the game and ended up winning several club championships; and captained the Club’s women’s team to a South Florida inter-club championship.
For twenty years Karen and Carl divided their time by spending seven months in Florida, four months at their lake cottage in Penticton, and one month driving back and forth, always striving for a new route. In the end they drove through all forty-eight lower states and most Canadian provinces. The summer trips let them enjoy many parts of both countries. Along the way they saw family and friends, played golf and bridge in new places, visited national parks, and just plain enjoyed themselves.
A particular source of enjoyment for Karen over the years was watching her kids and grandkids play baseball; and watching her beloved Blue Jays’ games.
When Karen was struck by Parkinson’s disease, they relocated to Vancouver to be closer to her family and friends and moved into the Tapestry (now Seasons) Retirement Community. A constant joy for her was Sunday brunch with family, especially the older grandchildren who were studying at UBC.
Karen will be lovingly missed by Carl and her children, her stepdaughter Beth, her grandchildren Tyler, Paige, Kadence and Sydney, Carl’s granddaughter Katriana (Shannon Hughes), and her brother Bryan (Judy).
There will be a celebration of life for Karen July 5th in Penticton. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.