Karen Rae Webster, who died Aug. 24 at her home in Grand Junction, was a mother in her late teens and a stepgreat-grandmother twice by the time she died at 53.
Webster took as much pleasure in her stepgreat-grandchildren – the granddaughters from the first marriage of her son’s wife – as she did in teasing him about being a stepgrand father at age 35.
“She really liked to rub that in,” said her son, Star Chenoweth.
Born in Leadville and raised in Naturita, Webster graduated from Telluride High School. She was in her late teens when she began smoking cigarettes, got married and gave birth to her first child. For the rest of her life, she was divided between her addiction to cigarettes and her fierce devotion to her family.
Countless times, nagged by her children and her own guilt, she unsuccessfully tried to quit her smoking habit of a pack and a half to three packs a day.
On July 15, after two days without a cigarette, Webster was diagnosed with advanced small- cell carcinoma. Chemotherapy might add another six months to her life, doctors told her. Without it, she could expect to measure her life in weeks.
“For the first 15 minutes after they told her, she freaked out a little bit, but after that she had this acceptance, and she was the bravest, most dignified person I’ve ever seen,” Chenoweth said. “She wanted to do everything. See the redwoods in California. See the ocean. Be with her family.
“She refused any pain medication because she didn’t want it to make her rummy. She didn’t want to miss one moment with her family.”
Webster was furious with herself for scoffing when her children, sister and grandchildren begged her to quit smoking, and for snapping at them when they hid her cigarettes and booby-trapped them with cigarette loads – tiny prank novelties that react to fire by crackling and popping.
“But she told me that she saw the pain in my eyes that day the doctors talked to her, and hated herself for smoking all those years,” Chenoweth said. “The thing she loved most was her family, and she felt she was hurting them by leaving and dying.”
In the weeks preceding her death, Webster surrounded herself with family and friends. Fourteen of them accompanied her on a road trip to see the redwood forest in northern California.
By the time Webster returned to Grand Junction, she was visibly weak, racked with stomach pains and relying on an oxygen tank. She bought a new dress for the August wedding she planned with her boyfriend, but she acknowledged that she sensed time running out. The wedding, which would have been her third trip to the altar, never took place.
Survivors include her mother, Violet Bade of Grand Junction; sons Chenoweth of Reno, Nev., and Vernie Foust of Grand Junction; daughter Melinda Boughman of Grand Junction; brother Larry Webster of Grand Junction; sister Sally Frey of Fruita; six grandchildren; and two stepgreat-grandchildren.
Staff writer Claire Martin can be reached at 303-820-1477 or cmartin@denverpost.com.
