Karen Ehle

Karen A. Ehle went to be with her Heavenly Father on January 18, 2015 at Holland Hospital, Holland, Michigan, after a long, hard-fought battle with cancer. Karen was born on November 22, 1937 in Detour Village, Michigan, to Albert and Ferne McLeod. She was raised in Detour where she graduated from school and married her high school sweetheart, Wilmer (Bill) Ehle, in 1956.

With her parents, Karen and Bill built the Heather Haven Motel and Restaurant in Detour Village in 1958, a business they operated for 25 years. To Karen’s credit, the restaurant was well known in the area for its home cooked meals, pies, donuts, hamburgers and milkshakes. Karen and Bill also later built and operated the Ehle Sport Shop for eight years, currently known as North Country Sports. After selling the businesses and leaving Detour in 1983, Karen and Bill lived in Ann Arbor, Michigan for 26 years. There they managed a large self-storage company while Karen also worked for the Ford family whose members were appreciative recipients of her wonderful cooking. Karen’s family was truly the center and light of her life. Throughout her daughter’s school years and later her grandsons’ sports careers, she and Bill could always be depended on to be in the stands cheering them on, even those events that took them hours away from home. More recently, she enjoyed shopping with her daughter, Heather, and frequent visits to the ice cream shop with her daughter and great granddaughter, Cambree. She and Bill also enjoyed many road trips to various destinations, both locally and around the U.S. Survivors include her loving husband of nearly 59 years, Bill Ehle; her daughter and best friend, Heather Ehle Gibbons (Bill Snowdin); grandson Dustin (Jaime) Gibbons; grandson Garrett Gibbons (Christina Polakowski); and, great granddaughters Cambree and Barrette Gibbons. Karen’s family will hold a graveside service in Detour Village in the spring where interment will take place. The date and time will be announced when it is planned.