Karen Emel

The Celebration of Life for Karen Emel will be live streamed on the Furness Funeral Home Facebook page.  This can be found by going to Facebook, searching "Furness Funeral Home", and the video will be the first video on the page.  The video will also be downloaded and put onto this website following the service.  If you experience issues, please feel free to contact us.

A celebration of life will be held on Saturday, October 4, 2025, at Furness Funeral Home at 1:00 p.m.  Interment will immediately follow the service at Collins Cemetery in Willow Lake, SD.

Karen (Houghton) Emel, 84, Newport WA., went peacefully to her heavenly home on August 24th, in Watertown, S.D. surrounded by her loving family.

Karen was born to Charles and Mata (Gehrke) Houghton, (the 11th of 14 children) in Willow Lake S.D. on May 3rd 1941. She was baptized and confirmed at the Willow Lake Evangelical Lutheran Church. She grew up on a farm west of Willow Lake. She attended a one-room country school through the 8th grade and graduated from Willow Lake High School in 1959. She attended college at Black Hills State College, Spearfish, SD, and taught in country schools for 2 years. She then moved to Minneapolis, where she worked for Lutheran Brotherhood Insurance Co.

Karen later moved to Martha Lake WA. where she met her future husband Phil Emel. She and Phil were married on March 15th 1968. She became the loving step mother to 4 children. Wayde, 10; Mark, 9; Tina, 8; and Terri, 7.

Karen and Phil purchased land near Newport, WA in the early 70s where they lived for their entire married life.  Karen had a variety of occupations. She was always the first one to be a caretaker, to friends and relatives alike, all over the country. She cared for many children as well.  In the last several years she was a "right hand man" on the Bud and Elsie Houghton farm near Willow Lake.

Karen was preceded in death by her husband Phil, her parents Mata and Charles, her stepson Mark, six brothers: Bud, Clifford, Bob, Bill, Ed, and Ron Houghton, three sisters: Doris Larson, Virene Stromsness, and Adele Reed, brothers-in-law Ivan Larson, John Stromsness, Bernie Hamilton, and Charles Killingsworth, sisters-in-law Elsie and Lola, and several nieces and nephews.

Living to cherish her memory are her children, Wayde (Terrilynn) Emel, of Moses Lake, WA, Tina (Mike) Wright, of Everett, WA, and Terri (Glenn) Magnuson, of Marysville, WA, and her daughter-in-law Anne, all of WA.  She is also survived by 10 grandkids, 10 great grandkids, four sisters, Donna Hamilton, of Eden Prairie, MN, Jan Killingsworth, of Roseville, CA., Linda Fleeger (Don), Webster, S.D. and Carole (Doug) Kettwig, Watertown SD, sisters-in-law Karen Ann Houghton of Eden Prairie, MN, JoAnn Houghton, of Ashland, OR, and Teri Houghton, of Grants Pass, OR, her brother-in-law Gordon Reed, of Alta Loma, CA, and many nieces and nephews, as well as the many close friends who loved her like family.