Karen Sweeney Rapson, who died at age 58 on Oct. 19, tackled life head-on.
The one-time Central City Flower Girl had energetic tenacity in her work as an estate planner at Holland & Hart and at play on the golf course or at the bridge table.
“Karen was a little bit intimidating,” said her husband, Bill Rapson, also a lawyer. “She had a toughness of mind and will. One time, I asked her how she’d grade me as a husband. She didn’t hand out compliments easily. She told me, ‘B-plus.’
“I said that wasn’t so hot. She said, ‘Well, compared to other men, you’re an A, but compared to what you could become, you’re a B-plus.”‘
Born in Colorado to General Electric distributor B.K. Sweeney and Anne S. Sweeney, she attended Kent Country Day School, danced through Denver’s debutante scene and earned a degree from the University of Denver’s law school.
She was among the first female partners at the Holland & Hart law firm, where she established a reputation for dealing firmly with extended families bickering over estates.
“I’ve never seen anyone who could take a complex problem and summarize it in three or four words so well,” said her husband. “She’d run into multiple family situations, with someone remarrying and the new spouse wanting attention, and old loyalties, and those sorts of issues. With a couple straightforward comments, she’d get to the heart of whatever the issue was.”
At home, Rapson preferred activity, barring housekeeping, to reading or contemplating. She rarely remained seated except at dinner parties, bridge games or board meetings, or on plane trips.
Diagnosed with breast cancer a little more than four years ago, and two years later diagnosed with lung cancer, Rapson refused to slow down.
With her husband, she traveled internationally to pursue promising leads in medical treatment. She continued to ski until March and played golf over Labor Day weekend.
Then Rapson’s stamina plummeted. Family and friends could hardly believe the change in the woman nicknamed Vivvy, for “vivacious,” by her Denver Country Club friends. Bill Rapson half-joked that it was the first time in his married life that his wife allowed him to take care of her.
They spent long hours on the patio of their Cherry Hills Village home, listening to the wind chimes and birds unnoticed in busier days.
“She took a C-plus life and made it an A-plus life,” her husband said.
The funeral is at 10 a.m. today at Holy Ghost Catholic Church, 1900 California St.
Besides her husband and father, survivors include son David Rapson of Denver; daughter Anne Rapson Shepherd of New York; and brothers Barry Sweeney of Evergreen and Kevin Sweeney of Rehoboth Beach, Del. One brother predeceased her.
Staff writer Claire Martin can be reached at 303-954-1477 or cmartin@denverpost.com.
