As a coordinator in UVM’s payroll office for nearly 40 years, she earned the nickname “payroll Karen”
Karen Marie Paquette (Williams) entered into eternal peace on April 2, 2024. Karen passed peacefully at home, surrounded by family and friends, after a courageous three-year battle with pancreatic cancer. Karen was born on August 3, 1955, in Lindenhurst, Long Island, the daughter of Walter Williams and Jeanne Virginia Remsen. Karen was the oldest of six children and, later in life, three stepsiblings. She grew up on Sherbrooke Road and made many close friends there, as well as through Lindenhurst High School, where she graduated in 1973. Karen made her initial journey to Vermont, a place she would call home for the next 49 years, in 1973, when she moved to Enosburg to live on a farm — the true “Vermont Life.” She returned to Long Island in the mid ‘70s to help take care of her family after the death of her mother, Jeanne, and worked with her father at Con Edison. In the late ‘70s Karen made the final move back to Vermont and never looked back. Shortly after journeying to Vermont, she met the love of her life and husband, Maurice (Moe) Paquette. They got married in Craftsbury on October 9, 1982, and celebrated each day over the next 42 years. Their journey eventually took them to the New North End, where they spread their roots throughout the Burlington community. Their family grew with the birth of Rochelle (Shelly), followed by Maurice (Moe) Paquette II. Their family would spend the next 31 years together, laughing, living and loving. Karen was dedicated to her job and work family. She started at the University of Vermont Medical Center (Fletcher Allen) on “Shep 3” in 1980, where she worked as unit clerk. She would go on to dedicate nearly 40 years of her life to working at UVM, the majority of those years as “payroll Karen,” in the payroll office as a coordinator. While at UVM, she made lifelong friends that meant the world to her and her family: Maggie Hebert, Julie Turpin, Lucie Paquette, Darla Ayer, Vicki Pelkey and Jamie Libby, as well as innumerable close friends she considered family. She was months away from retirement when she was initially diagnosed in 2021, truly a UVM “lifer.” Karen was the proud co-owner of Papa Frank’s Italian Restaurant, which she and Moe purchased in 2004 from lifelong friends Frank and Gail Sciara. She deeply loved and cared for all…
As a coordinator in UVM’s payroll office for nearly 40 years, she earned the nickname “payroll Karen”
Karen Marie Paquette (Williams) entered into eternal peace on April 2, 2024. Karen passed peacefully at home, surrounded by family and friends, after a courageous three-year battle with pancreatic cancer. Karen was born on August 3, 1955, in Lindenhurst, Long Island, the daughter of Walter Williams and Jeanne Virginia Remsen. Karen was the oldest of six children and, later in life, three stepsiblings. She grew up on Sherbrooke Road and made many close friends there, as well as through Lindenhurst High School, where she graduated in 1973. Karen made her initial journey to Vermont, a place she would call home for the next 49 years, in 1973, when she moved to Enosburg to live on a farm — the true “Vermont Life.” She returned to Long Island in the mid ‘70s to help take care of her family after the death of her mother, Jeanne, and worked with her father at Con Edison. In the late ‘70s Karen made the final move back to Vermont and never looked back. Shortly after journeying to Vermont, she met the love of her life and husband, Maurice (Moe) Paquette. They got married in Craftsbury on October 9, 1982, and celebrated each day over the next 42 years. Their journey eventually took them to the New North End, where they spread their roots throughout the Burlington community. Their family grew with the birth of Rochelle (Shelly), followed by Maurice (Moe) Paquette II. Their family would spend the next 31 years together, laughing, living and loving. Karen was dedicated to her job and work family. She started at the University of Vermont Medical Center (Fletcher Allen) on “Shep 3” in 1980, where she worked as unit clerk. She would go on to dedicate nearly 40 years of her life to working at UVM, the majority of those years as “payroll Karen,” in the payroll office as a coordinator. While at UVM, she made lifelong friends that meant the world to her and her family: Maggie Hebert, Julie Turpin, Lucie Paquette, Darla Ayer, Vicki Pelkey and Jamie Libby, as well as innumerable close friends she considered family. She was months away from retirement when she was initially diagnosed in 2021, truly a UVM “lifer.” Karen was the proud co-owner of Papa Frank’s Italian Restaurant, which she and Moe purchased in 2004 from lifelong friends Frank and Gail Sciara. She deeply loved and cared for all…