Karla Whisenant, 47

Karla Whisenant, 47, of Pierre, passed away, Saturday, May 26, 2012. Visitation will be from 5-7 p.m., Wednesday, May 30, 2012, at Feigum Funeral Home. Funeral Services will be at 10 a.m., Thursday, May 31, 2012, at Faith Lutheran Church with Rev. Brad Urbach officiating. Interment will follow at Riverside Cemetery.

Karla was born July 23, 1964, in Rapid City, S.D. She was quickly adopted into a loving Christian home by her parents Marvin and Pearl Waltner of Hurley, S.D., where she joined her older brother, Kevin. There she grew up on a farm, loving the outdoors and every animal there. She preferred working in the barn or driving tractor to being inside. She spent a lot of time riding her horses around the countryside.

Karla attended Salem Mennonite Church while growing up. It was there that she accepted Jesus Christ as her personal savior and was baptized. She enjoyed helping teach preschool Sunday School and Vacation Bible School. There were also many fond memories of church youth group activities including Christmas caroling, hay rides and voluntary service work; especially, the trip to Wichita Falls, Texas, in 1979 to help clean up after tornadoes.

She graduated high school from Freeman Academy, a private Christian high school, and then completed her first year of college at Freeman Junior College. She then attended National College of Business in Rapid City, S.D., where she started working for the Hardee’s restaurant chain. She began working full time at Hardee’s and was quickly promoted to a management position.

It was during this time she met and married Justin Whisenant. To this union, two children were born: Gregory Ellis and Brittany Pearl. Years later, while serving as foster parents for the state of South Dakota, they adopted a 9-year-old girl, Kara Lynn, to complete the family.

Over the course of her 27 years with Hardee’s, Karla and her family lived in Cheyenne and Casper, Wyo., Rapid City, S.D., and finally settled in Pierre in 1995. She worked with the Pierre Hardee’s until October 2010. In 1998, because of a promise she made to herself, Karla returned to school at Capitol University Center and received her Associate in Business degree through Northern State University. From 2001 to 2003, Karla worked as regional director, covering Pierre, Mitchell, Aberdeen, and Jamestown, N.D. After too many miles on the road, she returned to the restaurant.

She started selling Pampered Chef in 2008, and it became a successful business. She became known as the “Pampered Chef Gal”. In November 2011, she was promoted to director, but due to health reasons was forced to retire.

In the fall of 2001, Karla met Gary Clark, the man who would become her best friend and forever love, at a car show in the Hardee’s’ parking lot. They quickly hit it off, enjoying many of the same activities including: bowling, auctions, antiques, rummage sales, fishing, camping and attending their kids’ activities. A special memory of Karla was the tubing trip down the Niobrara River that she and Gary took with their families. They were able to spend 10 years together before Karla’s cancer separated them.

Those left to mourn her passing are Gary Clark; son, Greg Whisenant and his wife, Ashlee Rathbun, and their children, Raedenn and Ryker; daughters, Brittany Whisenant and Kara Ashley and her daughter Shayla; her parents, Marvin and Pearl; brother, Kevin (Amy) Waltner and their daughter Libby; Gary’s children, Amanda and Levi; his mother, Rose; his sister, Camilla (Shawn) Engel and their daughter, Katherine; along with numerous aunts, cousins, and friends. She was preceded in death by two aunts, three uncles, her grandparents and one cousin.