Karen Krenzke Fleischer ‘86 passed away in March 2025. Her husband, fellow Valpo alum and former Valpo law professor, Terry Fleischer ‘59, reached out with this beautiful piece he wrote in honor of the love of his life, whom he met here on campus. He wanted to share their Valpo story – full of love and music – with all of you.
Karen Krenzke first arrived at Valpo in the fall of 1956 with a clear goal: She wanted to be a teacher. With her pitch-perfect voice, she quickly found a home in the Chapel Choir. Meanwhile, I was wrestling with chemistry labs and quickly realized my calling lay in the pulpit rather than the periodic table.
We met in a history class. My first impression? “She is smarter than I am!” Still, courage prevailed, and I invited her out—though all I could afford was an ice cream cone in the cafeteria. A first kiss followed on the legendary “Kissing Bridge,” and we were almost never apart after that. We married in 1961 and moved to Alaska, where I practiced law, and we raised five daughters.
Valpo wove itself into our lives again and again. In 1975-1976, our family moved to Valpo, where I spent my sabbatical year teaching at the Valpo Law School. After our youngest daughter started school, Karen began studying music at the local campus of the University of Alaska. She returned to Valpo in 1986 to complete her music degree, 25 years after first setting foot on campus. Later, she became a music director and organist in several Anchorage churches.
During a sabbatical year at Princeton in 1991, Karen did graduate work in music at the Westminster Choir College. Her greatest joy was singing with the Westminster College Choir, which served as the Chorale for the New York Philharmonic, and performing at Leonard Bernstein’s memorial concert alongside musicians from around the world who came to honor their conductor. That year, she began composing, and one of her choral works was sung at a music festival at a church in New York City. That same piece, “Sing Angelic Choirs,” was performed by the Trinity Church Choir this spring at her funeral in Seattle.
Karen’s life was full of adventure. When I retired from law, we moved to South Africa, where Karen sang in three choirs at Cape Town’s St. George’s Cathedral. She also dedicated herself to helping refugees who sought sanctuary in the area. Wherever she lived, music—and compassion—were at the heart of her days.
In later years, as Karen’s memory declined, her ability to sing never did. Even in her retirement community in Seattle, she sang along at services, harmonizing instinctively as she had since childhood at her mother’s organ bench.
Music was Karen’s calling, her joy, and her lifelong passion. Our family recently made a gift to the Chapel Endowment, which will help support Valpo’s Chapel of the Resurrection while honoring Karen’s deep love of music, ensuring the Chapel Choir’s voices continue to resonate. Nothing would have pleased her more.
