Karen Rose Lauer Bissonette

Karen Rose Lauer Bissonette was born in Kokomo, Indiana on October 15, 1961. She passed away on January 21, 2026. Her parents are Rev. Dr. Richard and Mrs. Doris Lauer of McKenzie Bridge.

Portland, has been her home since she was 4 years old. But she was a partner in the family owned Caddisfly Resort LLC at McKenzie Bridge since 1995. Her grandparents, Marlo and Florence Lauer developed and owned the Caddisfly from its beginning in the 1950’s.

She loved the McKenzie River and its surrounding mountains, trails, lakes and fauna, spending as much time here as possible.

She was married to Matthew Bissonette, from St. Helena, CA. for 38 years. Together they have three sons, Nathan, Portland, Galen, Corvallis, and Corey, Menlo Park, CA. But they visited the McKenzie as often as they could.

She graduated from Sunset High School, Beaverton, graduated Magna Cum Laude with a liberal arts degree from Linfield University in McMinnville, and obtained a Master’s Degree in counseling from Lewis & Clark college in Portland.

She spent her high school junior year with her parents in Adelaide, Australia. And while in college spent a semester in Vienna, Austria.

Her main vocation was a school counselor in the Portland School District. For 35 years she was also involved with the Parent Support Center of Portland. With the goal to reduce child abuse and enrich the parent experience, Karen was a student, teacher, board member and administrator.

Throughout her life she worked for social justice. She was a teenage delegate to the World Council of Churches dialogue event on the Island of Cyprus and walked across the Country in the Great Peace March for Nuclear Disarmament (1986) and, also with her husband, Matt, walked with American and Russian delegates from St. Petersburg to Moscow.

Medically, for the past 14 years Karen survived a stem cell transplant for Acute Myeloid Leukemia as well as a double lung transplant due to resulting complications. Her strength and resilience was an inspiration to all. Pancreatic cancer was the cause of her death.

She was preceeded in death by her older brother Mark. Karen is survived by her parents, Dick and Doris Lauer, her husband Matthew, her three grown sons, and her brother Daniel Lauer (Sarah) of Eugene.

Her body was donated to the Oregon Health and Science University.

A Celebration of Karen’s Life will be held on March 8, 2 p.m. at the Alberta Abbey Center in Portland.