Karen Ranung

Karen Ranung March 9, 1924 - February 11, 2017 Karen (née Helen) Ranung translated peacefully from this life Saturday evening, February 11, 2017. Born March 9, 1924, and adopted and raised in Poughkeepsie, New York by Christen and Karen Ranung, a childless Danish immigrant couple, young Karen displayed exceptional musical abilities as a child. She started singing publicly at age three, was driven around the Mid-Hudson Valley by her mother to give piano lessons during the Depression, sang for Eleanor Roosevelt at the first anniversary memorial of FDR’s death in 1946, and eventually gained a scholarship to study voice at Curtis Institute of Music at Philadelphia in the late 1940s. Among her many concert credits, she performed as a recitalist in New York City at Town Hall, Rockefeller Center, and Carnegie Recital Hall. With her husband, Peter K. McComb, she was instrumental in the founding of the Hudson Valley Philharmonic Society in 1959. Karen served as a member of the voice faculty at Vassar College in the 1960s and continued her lifework as a teacher of singing, maintaining a studio at Albany, New York from the early 1970s until moving to St. Augustine, Florida in December, 2011. Karen is survived by her son Christen Ranung McComb and his wife Victoria Jackson, and by her son Bill McComb, all residents of St. Augustine. She also leaves behind three grandsons: Shura McComb of Brooklyn, New York, and Devon and Eamon McComb, both living in Florida. Her first child, Sally Ranung McComb, passed away on her 52nd birthday, February 11, 1999. The family marvels that mother and daughter have been reunited on that very same date. As a singer and teacher, Karen’s students and fellow performers became her lifelong friends. As a mother and confidante, she passed to her children a profound love of life and art and beauty. As a follower and high initiate of Eckankar, she shared spiritual awareness and joy wherever she travelled. Although she will be missed by all who knew her, her grace will always remain. She left an enduring trace of love on this world. Now, may the blessings be. St. Johns Family Funeral Home is in charge of the arrangements.