Karen Gould Obituary

Karen Wight Gould

Karen Ann Wight Gould, of Kansas City, Missouri, and Sausalito, California, died October 19, 2013, at Marin General Hospital, following a recent illness. She was 68 years old. A memorial celebration will be held in Kansas City on Sunday, December 8 (12:00-3:00pm at the Grand Street event space on the Country Club Plaza: 4740 Grand Avenue). She is lovingly remembered by her devoted husband, Robert (Bob) Gould, her daughters, Kira Gould (and her husband Michael Ebeid) and Mischa Gould Buchholz (and her husband Matthew Buchholz), and grandchildren Maize Buchholz, Mira Buchholz, and Nicolas Ebeid. Karen was cherished by her family and admired by her friends for her artistic and design talent, her vivacious spirit, and her warm and nurturing nature. Everywhere she lived, she used art and culture to bring a diverse array of people together; conversations and collaborations ensued. She regularly opened her home to host seasonal gatherings of friends and family.

Karen was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to Mildred and Keith Gordon Wight. She graduated from Thomas A. Edison High School, where she met a group of friends with whom she stayed very close throughout her life. She earned an English degree from the University of Kansas (KU), where she was a member of the Pi Beta Phi sorority. Karen met Bob on her first day at KU; he carried her suitcases into the dorm, and they began dating soon after. It was the beginning of a 50-year love affair. Karen and Bob wed in 1966 in Tulsa, and started married life in Lawrence, Kansas. They next lived in Knoxville, Tennessee, where their first child (Kira) was born; then Berkeley, California; then Albany, New York, where their second child (Mischa) was born, and then moved back to Lawrence. They later settled in Kansas City and, then, part time in Sausalito, California. Karen shared with Bob and their children a love of travel, and they took many trips together, including to Europe, Mexico, Tunisia and, most recently, Alaska. She also instilled in her family a deep love of food and cooking.

Karen was a talented artist, with a special affinity for fiber arts—batik, weaving, clothing design, and more. Her passion for the arts extended to numerous roles including serving as a docent at museums, taking a leadership role with the Kansas Arts Council, starting a gallery in Lawrence, and curating exhibits at the Watkins Museum. She organized an education program at the University of Kansas Spencer Museum of Art that earned National Endowment of the Arts recognition.

Karen migrated her art career to interior design and produced a number of notable projects. An early project was the house she and Bob created in Lawrence, which was profiled in Sunset magazine. The most significant portion of her professional life was dedicated to Gould Evans, an architecture/interior design/planning firm that she helped build, which was initially based in Lawrence and grew to have offices in Kansas City and several other cities. A number of the commercial interiors projects she designed during her 27-year career at Gould Evans—including the Gould Evans office, Cerner World Headquarters, and Teller's Restaurant—were featured in Interior Design, Metropolis, and other national publications. The home she and Bob designed in Mission Hills, Kansas, also received significant recognition.

Karen was active with the Kansas City Art Institute and the Entrepreneurial Exchange in Kansas City. Karen spent time with Bob in the Bay Area often, seeing their grandchildren and building an office in San Francisco. One of Karen's first jobs after college was as a librarian at the Knoxville Public Library, and through her design career she retained an affinity for libraries. She worked on dozens of libraries around the country. Recently, Karen and Bob had been serving as advisors to the Sausalito Public Library. In lieu of flowers, her family requests donations to the Sausalito Library Foundation (420 Litho St., Sausalito, CA 94965) or the Kansas City Art Institute (4415 Warwick Blvd., Kansas City, MO 64111).

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