Karlene Rae Heaster
17 October 1937 - 25 June 2026
Family and friends are grateful for the life of Karlene Rae Heaster (nee Bauer), who died at Brickyard Healthcare Center in Valparaiso on June 25, 2026. Karlene was beloved in the many relationships she held in life – daughter, granddaughter, wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother, aunt, colleague, and friend. Anyone who knew her recognized her warm, kind, and caring nature; her wonderful sense of humor; her strong intellect; her strong sense of curiosity and interest in learning; her sense of fairness; her high standards; and her determination to do a good job at whatever she chose to do. She loved her family and always wished the best for everyone. She was always ready to discuss family and family history; memories about local history; baseball (especially the White Sox and the American League), and classic movies.
Born in Valparaiso on October 17, 1937, Karlene was the youngest child and only daughter of Karl W.R. Bauer and Frances L. Bauer (nee Brody). She always said that she had a wonderful childhood. She hung out with her older brothers, Jimmie W. Bauer and Roland R. “Pete” Bauer and various friends and loved several family cats and dogs, most notably the family mutt/dog about town, Rover. Her beloved grandmother, Harriet Brody, who lived with them, kept everyone in line. Karlene was a proud graduate of Gardner Elementary and Valparaiso High School’s Class of 1955. She loved the jobs she had while still in high school – working as a soda jerk at Sievers Drug Store and working as a car hop at Lyons Drive-In on Lincolnway. She often spoke about how much fun it was to be a teenager in Valparaiso in the 1950s. After graduation, Karlene worked as an IBM keypunch operator at US Steel Gary Works.
Karlene married Calvin L. Heaster on October 17,1957, and they raised their three daughters – Linda, Brenda, and Cynthia (Cindy) – in Valparaiso. While the girls were young, Karlene managed the home front while Cal worked at McGill Manufacturing. Family was important to Karlene. She wanted her girls to grow up to have happy, productive, independent lives, and she was supportive of the paths they chose as adults. She fostered their love of reading with trips to the library. She took the girls out for practice drives to help them get their drivers licenses, because driving was key to independence, and she loved being able to drive. She helped them learn to cook and bake as well as she did, and all three girls remembered that, when helping Mom decorate the cut-out cookies at Christmas, “the cookies better not be gaudy.” She made birthdays and holidays special every year. She baked animal-shaped birthday cakes when the girls were little. She loved Christmas -- decorating the tree and house, shopping and then wrapping the presents, and seeing happy faces on Christmas Day. She loved hosting the annual family Christmas Eve party, although she was happy to relinquish the event to daughter Linda in the 1990s. And once they were old enough, she loved taking her three granddaughters shopping at Southlake Mall on Black Friday.
In 1971, Karlene returned to work part-time in a clerical position at the Porter County Assessor’s Office, and within a few years transitioned to full-time status and a career in county government. During her 28 years in the Assessor’s Office, she sought to learn all she could to understand the ins and outs of real estate and personal property assessments and tax bills. County officials and colleagues respected her deep expertise. She was known for mentoring other employees and for collaborating with other County offices to serve County residents. Eventually she became the first deputy assessor and assumed the Office’s responsibilities regarding state inheritance taxes. Local lawyers respected her reviews of their work to ensure filings were accurate so that they could be processed more efficiently. In addition to enjoying her work at the Courthouse, Karlene enjoyed the camaraderie with her colleagues, and several friendships endured for the rest of her life.
Karlene kept busy in retirement. She enjoyed her friendships, and she kept her mind active. She and her friend Wilma Jones completed a college-level course on computers at Ivy Tech so they could develop valuable skills using computers, which they knew was the way of the future. They learned Excel, PowerPoint, and other programs, and they shared some late nights finishing their various projects. Karlene and Wilma both enjoyed genealogy, with Karlene focused on the history of the Bauer and Brody families. Genealogy fed that itch she always had to become a private detective! She and Wilma shared information about good research sources and visited lots of cemeteries. Karlene developed helpful, on-line relationships with relatives in Germany via Ancestry.com and used Ancestry to build detailed family trees. When she decided several years ago that it was time to stop, she presented individualized notebooks documenting her research to a few dozen family members. Karlene joined Weight Watchers in 2001 and reached her goal in 2002. She maintained her goal weight for the rest of her life and attended meetings each week, because she loved the support and camaraderie. Her group leader and members considered her a wonderful mentor in helping them achieve their goals. She also became an active participant in planning several reunions for VHS Class of ’55. Karlene adapted happily to the iPhone she got in 2022. She loved Googling and texting; receiving photos from her daughters, granddaughters, and friends; and keeping up on the news and baseball.
Karlene is survived by her husband of 68 years, Calvin; her daughters Brenda L. Heaster (Keith Ritter) of Arlington, VA and Cynthia J. O’Bryan of Bedford, TX; her granddaughters Jennifer L. Robb (Erik Steffen) of Oxford, OH; Sarah K. Taylor (Ryan) of South Lyon, MI; and Kristin F. Robb of New York, NY; her six great-grandchildren, Henry J. Robb, Evelyn M. Robb, Turner D. Steffen, Rosalyn J. Steffen, Graham Taylor, and Norah Taylor; and son-in-law Timothy C. Robb of Ocala, FL. Nephews and nieces also surviving her include Torrie D. Bauer (Jacquelin); Karl W. R. Bauer; and Benjamin P. Bauer (Krista) all of Valparaiso; James P. Bauer of Marion, IL; Brian F. Porter (Tina) of Laveen, AZ; and Lori L. Timm of Porter, IN. Several great nieces and nephews also survive.
Karlene was predeceased by her daughter, Linda A. Robb; her parents; her brothers; her grandmother; her niece, Johanna R. Bauer; her nephew, Harlo W. Porter II; her great nephew, Nathaniel D. Bauer; her in-laws, Lloyd E. and Mary F. Heaster; and her sisters-in-law, Faye A. Bard, Beda J. Bauer, and Thelma J. Porter. Her beloved dogs Brownie, Rover, Sam, Sandy, and Dusty and several granddogs also went before her.
The family is grateful to the staff at Brickyard Healthcare Center in Valparaiso for its care of Karlene and support to the family during the final year of her life. The family also is grateful for the care and support that Karlene received from Dr. Keith Atassi and his team at Powers Health in Valparaiso. Karlene was especially grateful for the support that her three “Bauer Boys – Karl, Ben, and Torrie” gave to her and to Cal during recent years.
The family will host a celebration of life at a future date. The family requests that any donations in Karlene’s memory be sent to VNA Hospice, 501 Marquette Street, Valparaiso, IN 46383.
