Karen Hedwig Backman, 83, of Huntsville, Ala., formerly of Artesian, died Dec. 8, 2023, after several weeks of illness. 

A direct cremation will be held at Serenity Funeral Home. Her ashes will be scattered on her parents’ farm as were her parents’. Services will be held this summer in South Dakota.

Karen was born June 29, 1940, to Elis and Signe Backman in Mitchell. She grew up in Artesian and graduated from Artesian High School in 1958. She attended Dakota Wesleyan University in South Dakota and later earned her Bachelor of Arts, Cum Laude in journalism, from the University of Pittsburgh in 1976. Karen was married to Martin Marsden 1961-1983 and later to Jeff Burns until his death in 1992.

During her life, Karen was a poet, a newspaper columnist, an avid letter writer, and political gadfly. She worked for several firms in clerical or writer roles. She owned and ran the Dragon’s Nest store in Albuquerque. Primarily, she did public relations, paid or as a volunteer, especially for feminist and liberal political issues. She worked for Pittsburgh Action Against Rape (PAAR), the National Organization for Women (NOW), helped found the Freedom Feminist Federal Credit Union in Pittsburgh (and was its president at one point), and facilitated many women’s festivals and conferences in the U.S. and Canada. She was an active Code Pink Peace protester and Democrat through her retirement years.

Karen had letters to the editor published in the Wall Street Journal, the Federal Way Mirror (Washington state), and the Dothan Eagle (Alabama) and probably many other newspapers. The Dothan Eagle editor once called and told her he was afraid to publish one of her better (but incendiary) letters lest someone shoot her.

Karen is survived by three children, Jennifer Marsden (Ronald King), Joseph Marsden, and Gabrielle Marsden (Todd Kaufmann); two grandchildren; and one great-grandchild. 

She was preceded in death by her parents; her brother, Gene Fisher; and her husband, Jeff Burns.