Pastor Karen M. Shepler

A Passion for the Poor

Pastor Karen M. Shepler passed away on March 10, 2017 in her home in Toledo, Ohio. She was 65. She was born to Harry A and Lillian (Gruber) Shepler on June 1, 1951 and grew up in Waterville and Whitehouse, Ohio. She graduated from Anthony Wayne High School and was inducted into the Anthony Wayne Alumni Hall of Fame.

She worked several years after graduating from Bowling Green State University, and then attended seminary school at United Theological Seminary in Dayton in 1983. She was an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church serving churches in Dayton and Columbus before returning to Monroe St. Methodist Church in Toledo, from which she retired in 2013. She also served in a refugee camp in Texas and directed a medical clinic in Mexico.

The most important things in her life were faith, family, social justice, and integrity. Her call to ministry came to her from youth experiences at church and the local foreign missions.

She had a passion for the poor and a commitment to justice inspired by a trip to Haiti at age 16 where she developed an awareness of what it meant to be a minority. She was also shaped by her experience interacting with inner city teens at St Paul’s United Methodist Church downtown Toledo.

She continued her work to eliminate racism at the YMCA. She had a great passion for the marginalized, the voiceless, and those affected by white privilege. She helped to bring Dialogue to Change to Toledo. The program encourages small groups to meet regularly and talk about race and inequality.