Belfast, Maine - On May 9, 2024, Belfast, Maine, resident, former college professor, and longtime political activist Karen Saum, died peacefully at Waldo County General Hospital in Belfast, Maine, with one of her three sons and her only grandson at her bedside. Karen was born in Colón, Panama, where she lived until her senior year in high school, when she and her family moved to Marin County, California. After high school, Karen attended Stanford University, where she met her future husband, Dr. Richard Reichard, who was doing post-doctoral work at Stanford.

After completing her undergraduate degree at Stanford, Karen raised three sons while completing an all-but-dissertation at Johns Hopkins University. In the 1960s, Karen taught history at Brooklyn College and Manhattan College, and she began a long career of political activism. She protested against the Vietnam War in the early 1960s, well before the war's unpopularity sparked major protests. She also protested for civil rights, and marched with Martin Luther King Jr. and militant civil rights leader, Kwame Ture (then Stokely Carmichael). Later, in the early 1970s, Karen took up the fight for women's rights. In 1968, Karen and her three sons sailed on the SS Maasdam of the Holland America Line from Montreal to Southhampton, England, where the family picked up a Volkswagen camper bus, which became their home for the next year as they traveled around Europe.

In 1969, Karen moved to Maine, which became her home for the rest of her life. Karen taught history at the University of Maine Augusta for several years, and later learned videography under the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act, and produced two videos: "Working Women of Waldo County" and "I Knew a Phoenix," on the life of her friend and renowned poet, May Sarton.

In 1981, Karen went to work for H.O.M.E. Co-op in Orland, Maine, an organization that creates employment for, and provides a wide variety of services to, the low-income community of Hancock County and beyond. At the co-op, Karen founded the Rural Education Program, an innovative program that brought college within reach of rural workers, primarily women and single moms. Karen also lived at Mandala Farm, a back-to-the-land, economic empowerment community in the woods of East Orland. H.O.M.E. Co-op and Mandala are members of the worldwide Emmaus movement, and Karen relished the Emmaus connection, going to global Emmaus meetings in Italy and South Korea, and volunteering at the former Emmaus House in Harlem, NY.

Karen also wrote four published mysteries, two self-published books, a children's mystery, and a collection of short stories about growing up in Panama.

Karen spent the last 16 years of her life in Belfast, Maine. Karen was active in the community of Americans living in the U.S. who had lived in Panama, and she supported the Museo Afroantillano, a museum that preserves West Indian traditions in Panama.

Karen is survived by her three sons, Peter Reichard of Greensboro, North Carolina, Lawrence Reichard of Belfast, Maine, and Stephen Reichard of Portland, Oregon; by her brother, Jack Saum Jr. of Cambridge, Maryland; and by four grandchildren, two great-granddaughters, two nephews and a niece.

A service for Karen will be held at the H.O.M.E. Co-op chapel Friday, July 19, at 3:30 p.m. All are welcome. Karen's ashes will be buried in Panama, as she wanted. Donations in Karen's honor may be sent to: H.O.M.E. Co-op, P.O. Box 10, Orland, ME 04472.