Karen Schuler’s love of life, people, and her Jesus didn’t come to an end with her death. She passed away on March 21st, 2024. But this amazing minister, singer, musician, writer, director, actor, wife, sister, mother, grandmother, and great grandmother will live on through the legacy of the many lives she touched.

She was born on December 1st, 1942 to loving parents Dr. Louis Paul & Edna Lehman. From an early age, she and her sister Cheri ministered with their parents in many church meetings and on the Bit of Heaven radio ministry. This is where Karen really got her love of performing and reaching people with the gospel through music.

She attended Hampden DuBose Academy and Moody Bible Institute.

One of the pivotal moments in her journey of life came when she was asked to be involved with the first Christian musical film, Worlds Apart by Gospel Films. She sang the song “Shepherd of Love” written specifically for her by John W. Peterson. Her performance achieved best supporting actress and best soloist from the National Evangelical Film Foundation in 1966. But most importantly, it was during the filming of this project that God revealed Himself to her in a personal way and she gave her heart to Him in a real and meaningful way.

She is the author of two books. The first was “God Knows I Won’t Be Fat Again” which was a humorous look at her journey with weight loss and self discovery. Her second book was “Confessions of a Totaled Woman” that uses humor to balance Christian faith with the everyday struggles of being a wife and mother. Both of these were published through Thomas Nelson Publishing and led to her being a sought after speaker to many women’s groups.

She spent most of her life in some form of ministry. Many years she was involved with Kansas City Youth for Christ. She was involved in helping with their rallies as well as working with producing cutting edge Christian Television such as “The Totaled Woman” (based on her book) and fun programming like “Happy Matches” (a Christian couple game show much like “The Newlywed Game”).

Her real love came from being involved in live events, especially Christmas and Easter musical productions. She did this with many various churches. She also was very proud of her involvement with Calvary Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. There she created weekly scripts (some with humor and some with very edgy serious drama) for their Saturday Night program.

She loved people. In the last few chapters of her life, she was very proud to have been involved in the ministries at Woods Chapel Church. She was especially fond of the family at Raytown. Her biggest joy was working with the meals program (Raytown’s Table) and really developing meaningful relationships with people that came to be fed (physically & spiritually).

She is survived by her husband of 36 years David Clark Schuler; her children Melissa (Gil) Daspit, Carrie (Steve) Tisdale, Jason Wise, Kim (John) VanOeffelen, Natasha Ballard-Schuler; grandchildren Jonathan, Rachel, Raven, Jared, Taylor, Bryant, Jacob, Joel, Willow; great grandchild Micah; sister Cheri (Roy) Collins; nephew Adam (Angie) Collins; great nieces Mattie & Amelia.

A Celebration of Life service will be held April 26th, 2024 at Woods Chapel Church (Lee’s Summit, MO). There will be a visitation with family and friends starting at 9am, with the service starting at 10:30am. The service will be available on LIVESTREAM.

In lieu of flowers, the family would ask that donations can be made to Raytown’s Table (Woods Chapel meals program) or CLEARR Ministries.