Karen Loraine Riggle Atwood

Karen was a lifelong resident of Warren. She was born on August 30, 1946 to the late Walter R. Riggle and Jean-Marie Ruhlman Riggle of Warren. She was a 1964 graduate of Warren Area High School.

Karen was an avid animal lover, enjoying companionship with many cats and dogs over the years. Two of Karen’s most recent house cats were “sluice pipe kitties”, rescued from roadside abandonment. She also maintained bird feeders for many songbirds and woodpeckers.

Karen loved frequent hikes in the woods. She was a staunch advocate for proper land stewardship for both public and private forests. Karen also enjoyed listening to a broad variety of music, including pop/rock of the 1950s] through the 1980s, country music from the “Hee Haw” era, and bluegrass. On rare] occasion she visited Chautauqua Institution to enjoy music performances in the Ampitheatre.

Karen was a charter member, co-founder and longtime recreational trails volunteer for the Tionesta Valley Snowmobile Club headquartered in Warren. Karen was also a statecertified snowmobile safety instructor from 1975 through 2012. In the early to mid-1990s, she served as chair of the Allegheny Trail Committee, and later for the Allegheny Recreational Alliance of Concerned Citizens during their “open the gates” petitiondrive. She was member of the Class of 1991 of the VIP Cuverts advocates for the Pennsylvania Forest Stewardship program, for the sake of private woodlot owners. She was also one of the leading volunteers for many years for the Jim Lobdell Memorial Sled Dog Races and Warren County Winterfest, and a past volunteer for Cherry Grove Old Home and Community Day’s “646 Mystery Well” annual events to observe the anniversary of the 1882 oil boom.

One of Karen’s biggest volunteer projects was the Highway 59 Bridge Enhancement Project, a federal transportation enhancement grant project to install side-bridges for pedestrians, bicycles and snowmobiles alongside the motor vehicle traffic treadways of the PA. Route 59 highway bridges over Brown Run and Morrison Run near Warren.

The grant for this project was awarded in 1997, construction took place in 1999, and dedication took place 30 Oct. 2000. These side-bridges remain in operation to this day.

Karen’s career included working at United Refining, Solar Electric, Warren State Hospital dietary department, a Youth Conservation Corps team supervisor, and cofounding a family-owned and -operated concrete wall form rental enterprise.

Karen is survived by Edwin W. Atwood, whom she married 2 April 1966 and one son, Walter Atwood. Karen is also survived by sister Cheryl (Riggle) Dart and husband Gerald of Gifford. Walt was named for Karen’s father, the late Walter Riggle, a career welder who worked at Hammond Iron Works, later PDM, and was known as one of the key builders of the St. Louis Arch project, 1962-65. Karen finally got to visit the Arch in 2012 to honor her father’s work. Karen was a past volunteer in the Committee of Retired Boilermakers in Warren and she contributed to the “Baby Arch” project in front of the Warren County Visitors’ Bureau in the Village of Starbrick. Karen was also an amateur historian for the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), and helped erect “The Worker” CCC statue, also in front of the Visitors’ Bureau.

For those who want to honor Karen’s life, her many friendships, volunteer work and many family ties, her husband and son recommend that, in lieu of donating to a cause, people should reach out to friends and family, particularly the elderly, to help them make and keep appointments for regular preventative medical checkups at clinics or a doctor’s office.

A private family burial was held on Friday, September 27, 2024, at Barnes Cemetery. The Atwood Family has respectfully requested that anyone who would be interested in coordinating a Celebration of Life Service for Karen Atwood, please contact Mr. Edwin Atwood at 694 Mohawk Ave., Warren, PA 16365.

To leave an online condolence for Karen Loraine Atwood, please visit www.bordenfuneralhome.com. All arrangements for Karen are under the care of the Borden Funeral Home, 203 West Main St., in Sheffield, PA 16347.