Alva Review-Courier -

An informal graveside service will be held for Karee at Alva Municipal Cemetery at 2:30 p.m. on May 26, 2024. (Tentatively, there will be a gathering after the service starting at 5 p.m. at Gambino's Pizza, 720 Oklahoma Blvd, Alva.)

Karee was the only child of the late James E. Heady and Eva "Althea" Young, though both parents had children from other marriages. She was preceded in death by her husband of 64 years, Phillip Jerome Hada, who also rests in the Alva Municipal Cemetery.

She is survived by four children: Mark Hada, Cassandra Muscianese, Cynthia Arnold and Edna Starr. One daughter, Eva Hada, passed before her in 2012. Karee was grandmother to eight: Phillip Hada, James-Paul Nelson, Thomas Nelson, Marilyn Hada, Stephanie Frahm, Brandon Arnold, Jacquelyn Arnold and Katlyn Skabelund. She was great-grandmother to two: Zoey Frahm and Zach Frahm.

Karee met the love of her life while at church camp in Idyllwild, California. Several years later, at the age of 17, she married her husband of 64 years, Phillip. Their early marriage moved them between Washington State and California, during which four children were born. They settled in San Jose, California, in the mid-1960s, where two careers and a final child were born.

As a member of the Delaware Tribe of Indians in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, Karee's Native American heritage and outgoing personality resulted in her rise to be the Indian Education director for Eastside Union High School District, interim director and member of the Board of Directors for Indian Center for San Jose, president of the Bay Area Council on Indian Education, treasurer for the California Indian Education Council, member of the Progress Planning Committee for the National Indian Education Association, as well as being on the Board of Directors for a DQ University in California.

When Phil retired from the San Jose Police Department in 1989, Karee retired from education shortly after. With both having ties to Oklahoma and no more children at home, Karee and Phil moved to Alva, where Karee was only three hours away from Delaware Tribal Headquarters and Phil was in the town where he played as a young child. Both Karee and Phil very much enjoyed their time in Alva, where they made friends that lasted a lifetime.

Ten years later, in 2000, Karee and Phil relocated to California for health and family reasons. They would spend the next 21 years enjoying each other's company, traveling and having family visits.

Karee passed in her sleep three years and 16 days after her soulmate on February 8, 2024.