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Bybee, Karen Kummer

December 24, 1946 –
 August 21, 2015

Obituary

Karen Bybee died peacefully at home on Friday morning August 21, 2015.  Her funeral service will be a sung Eucharist at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, October 10, 2015 at The Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration, 14115 Hillcrest Road, Dallas, Texas 75254 on the northwest corner with Spring Valley.  It will be followed by interment in the church’s columbarium and a reception at the church.  The family prefers donations to the Scleroderma Research Foundation, 220 Montgomery St. #1411, San Francisco, CA 94104, www.srfcure.org, in lieu of flowers for anyone so inclined. Karen Kummer Bybee, P.E., was born Christmas Eve in 1946.  She started in private school and then went to public school in Lake Worth, Texas, where she graduated in 1964.  In high school, she examined various religions and convinced her family to convert from Baptist to Episcopalian.  The family enjoyed many summer vacations in the Florida panhandle where her father loved the white sand beaches.  In the summer of 1963 she attended a National Science Foundation summer science program in Austin.  Her roommate there became a lifetime friend.  She was also always close to her mother’s sister’s daughter from Farmers Branch and Carrollton.  She married Hal H. Bybee, Jr. in June 1968.  She joined the Otis Engineering subsidiary of Halliburton in late 1969 with a fresh bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from The University of Texas at Austin.  In 1973, Karen took maternity leave to give birth to a daughter, Alice, in January.  As Alice grew up, Karen was a youth group sponsor and altar guild member at church and a volunteer trail guide at the Plano school district Outdoor Learning Center.  Karen was also an avid gardener, cook, reader, and collector of art and antiques.  She enjoyed vacationing in the Florida panhandle, New Mexico, Boston where Alice got her first degree, and San Francisco where Alice lives and got her second degree. Karen spent her Otis career doing petroleum engineering mathematics and software support in Carrolton for subsurface safety valves, artificial lift, and other two-phase flow applications.  Her parents died in 1980 and 1982.  She left Halliburton in 1994 and joined the Society of Petroleum Engineers staff in early 1997 as a technical editor for the Journal of Petroleum Technology (JPT).  There she would read half a dozen reviewer-selected technical papers each month and write two-page summaries of them for publication in the JPT to help keep members from having to order full papers based on their title or conference abstract and, after working through twenty or so pages of equations, discover that the paper did not apply to their problem. Karen retired in the summer of 2011 partially due to the arthritis symptoms of the autoimmune disease scleroderma, partially to protect the household order from her husband who had retired six months earlier, and partially to prepare for the October wedding of her daughter at a beautiful vineyard in California.  She was then blessed with a granddaughter, Zoe, in September 2012.  In November of 2012 she was diagnosed with esophageal cancer.  Because of the scleroderma, the oncologists could not offer any treatment for the cancer other than periodic transfusions to make up for blood loss from the tumor.  By the end of May, 2015, the cancer had spread and she chose to have hospice care at home.  In the end, death came peacefully as she slept the morning of Friday, August 21, 2015, with nurses, husband, and pet dog, Molly, at her side.  Karen was most thankful for having almost three years to get to know and spoil her granddaughter and see her daughter and son-in-law buy a home just north of San Francisco (where they each work in graphic design) in Marin County with lots of room and excellent schools for Zoe. Karen is survived by her husband, daughter, son-in-law, granddaughter, 98 year old mother-in-law, husband’s brother-in-law and his family, and numerous aunts, uncles, and cousins descended from her Kummer and Ewart grandparents from West Helena, Arkansas, and descended from her husband’s Bybee and Lipscomb grandparents from Austin and Bonham, Texas. Arrangements are under the direction of ARIA Cremation Service and Funeral Home 19310 Preston Road Dallas, Texas 75252 214-306-6700 kb2 kb3   2011-Alice’s Wedding               1968- Karen’s Engagement Portriat Wedding                                                                                                  Announcements KB1 Karen – 2013 Taken at a Neighbor’s party.  

    Mary Jane Touchstone
    11 Sep 2015
    11:01am

    My prayers and sympathy goes out to Karen’s family and friends. I really enjoyed working with Karen and getting to know her. She always had a funny story and seemed to always have a smile on her face. She will be missed.

    Katherine DeGrow
    11 Sep 2015
    4:01pm

    I am a neighbor who came to know Karen in the last month’s of her life on earth. I only wish we had become friends years ago. She was a bright woman who was a pioneer in her field.

    Paul Colman Jr
    14 Sep 2015
    9:29am

    I was in Lake Worth HS with Karen. She had a very quick wit and humor. I can can still remember her laugh from many of our days in chemistry and physics labs ,when sometimes even Karen was not sure if we were doing the experiment right! She and Marilyn Moody were the smartest of our class and it was always my goal to make as many A’s as they did ….i fell way short!! Karen you will always be one of my classmates that I hold in very high regard.

    Sandy Potter
    21 Sep 2015
    10:28am

    My thoughts and prayers are with you Hal and your family. Karen was a wonderful woman to know and her passion and influence on others is her living legacy. MLPSUH. Sandy

    Judy Lanier Belt
    23 Sep 2015
    8:49pm

    Hal, I am so sorry to hear of your wife’s death. She was a beautiful woman and obviously very intelligent, as befits you. Please accept our condolences.

    Love, Skip and Judy Belt

    Nancy Lamb
    28 Sep 2015
    11:18am

    My deepest sympathy to the family and friends on the loss of Karen Bybee.

    Carol Jensen
    8 Oct 2015
    6:57pm

    Please accept my deepest sympathy. Karen will be missed by all who knew her. I treasure my memories of her.

    Lisa Bybee
    11 Oct 2015
    7:50pm

    Hal,I am so sorry to hear of the passing of Karen. My thoughts and prayers are with you and Bybee family.
    Lisa Bybee Bloomington IN

    Jim (james)Hoggins
    16 Sep 2016
    12:48pm

    I am so sorry to hear of Karen’s death. You were blessed with a wonderful lady.)I apologize for this being a year late but I only very recently found out. I was very privileged to know Karen as a precious friend and classmate at UT. We moved to Plano several years ago and I thankfully was able to talk to Karen but only once or twice on the phone. I had recently realized it was important to express special friends etc. who had a positive effect on me. I will never have that chance now which I regret.
    I am trying now to prevent that from happening again which is why I have included this in my condolences. Karen and I had a mutual friend at the time at UT, Barbara (due to my present memory problems I no longer her last name then or present name). Would you please help me not lose the opportunity to tell her. If you have her contact info or present last name, I will be greatful to you if you let me know. Too many have already passed.
    Jim 469-416-2772

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"I was amazed how professional the team at Aria Funeral Preston Dallas Texas are. They guided me through the process and my options of their services that they offered for my mother. They are compassionate, caring, calm, good listener, efficient and did an excellent job! Thank you!"
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"If I could give 6 stars I would. Aria made a difficult easier to deal with by basically taking care of everything in an efficient but very empathetic manner. I can speak highly enough of Dusty Martin, who helped us with all of the planning and logistics. He was incredibly understanding and helpful."
Angel M.
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"Nothing prepares you for the grief you go through when losing a child. I called this funeral home at 2:00 am broken and could barely talk. The amount of compassion and empathy they showed me immediately let me know I found the right place to cremate my son. I cannot thank them enough for their professionalism, SINCERE concern, and commitment to making sure my son was honored in the most respectful way. I hope this Funeral home values her as much as my family and I do."
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"Wayne and Staff, thank you for taking care of the arrangements for our mom, Exter McGee and our dad, Philip McGee. You have been great to work with during such a difficult time."
Elledge Family
Elledge Family
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"On behalf of my family, I wanted you to know how much we appreciate your handling of my husband's final arrangements. Wayne Baxter assisted & guided us through the entire process with such care & compassion. Don't know what we would have done without him! Sincerely, Colleen Elledge"
The Peterson Family
The Peterson FamilyYelp! Review - Northwest Highway 5-Stars
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"I can’t say enough about how helpful and professional Dusty Martin, the funeral director at the Aria Cremation location on NW Highway has been. From my initial call, he was kind and informative. My friend died at home while on hospice and she was picked up in about an hour after receiving the call from the hospice nurse. The person who arrived to pick her up was also very professional/respectful and allowed us to take as much time with her as we wished. When I met with Dusty the next day about arrangements, he explained the process and options available without being pushy or trying to “sell” extras. Throughout the process, he kept me informed and, for example, was careful to be certain I understood the cost of the obituary I wanted and offered some options for reducing that cost if I wished. When I stopped by for another reason and started talking about some of the problems I was having with the pictures and media I hoped to use at a memorial lunch I was planning, he not only listened patiently but offered technology advice and let me use his personal media player. I have had experience arranging cremations for four others using two other local companies, and this experience with Dusty at Aria has been by far the best one I have had."
Paula Barnes
Paula BarnesGoogle Review
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"My Daddy’s service and our family experience at Aria Northwest Highway was truly blessed. Funeral Director Dustin Martin is the kind of person that you would like to see on a more regular basis – but in his industry – you hope to not see him that often. That being said – THANK YOU DUSTIN for your unending kindness, compassion and friendship through the process. Meeting you and discussing Dallas History, Find A Grave and my Dad’s lifelong contributions to the great City of Dallas was simply wonderful! In memory of my dad James A. Dodd, Sr. – I want to personally thank you and let you know that you made everything better in that moment. Your calling to “Be There” is spot on. Aria has a one in a million guy in you! Bling Blinky of TEXAS Shout Out: God Bless You!!"
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