Karen Matina Lande Crisson

November 7, 1943 - December 26, 2022

Karen Matina Lande Crisson passed away peacefully at home on December 26, 2022. Born in Brooklyn to Norwegian immigrants, Erling and Vera (nee Jahnsen) Lande on November 7, 1943.

She graduated from Curtis High School in Staten Island, attended Harcum Junior College in Bryn Mawr, PA and Drake Business School. She was employed by Anaconda Sales Co in Manhattan, NY.

Karen was especially proud of her Norwegian heritage and was fluent in both English and Norwegian. She frequently attended the Norway Independence Day celebrations and marched in the Norwegian Independence Day Parade in Brooklyn. One year, Karen was crowned Queen of the Syttende Mai Parade at the Norwegian Independence Day Parade in Brooklyn. She was a member of the 59th Street Church in Brooklyn and is a member of the Zion Lutheran Church in Staten Island and was a proud member of the longest running prayer group in the history of the Zion Church. She frequently travelled to Norway and held her Norwegian traditions in high esteem. She was adamant about ensuring the Norwegian traditions were passed down to her children and grandchildren.

She was proud that her Norwegian ancestors owned the land that some of the copper was mined from to help build the Statue of Liberty. The Visnes mine on the Norwegian Island of Karmoy was on family-owned land. In 1865, the mine was sold by Karen’s great-grandfather to a French company that supplied the copper to the sculptor, Frederic Bartholdi and that copper was used to create Miss Liberty. There is a copper and granite marker that came to the US on the Norwegian Tall Ship the Sorlandet and was placed on Liberty Island by the Karmoy officials. This memorial commemorates the origin of the materials.

Karen was a talented painter and loved to knit and do many types of crafts. She also loved to cook and entertain for her large circle of friends. In her younger days, she loved to bowl and play tennis.

Karen loved attending the Army Navy games every year for 40+ years with her close knit group of friends; the Larsens, the Hansens, the Williamsons and the Aronsons.

She was married just shy of 50 years to James H. Crisson who passed away in April 2014. The couple loved to travel. Prior to his death, Karen and Jim spent the summer months in her beloved Vermont and the winter months in New York. The numbers 143 held special meaning to the couple who used that as code to say I love you. Karen bought James an ID bracelet with 143 engraved on it. On the day Karen passed, when she took her last breath, her daughter, Erica noticed the clock said 1:43. That’s love. 

Karen enjoyed her lifelong relationships. One of these special relationships was with her dear friend, Lois Larsen. They spent years living daily life together from church life, to marriage, raising their families, to living their golden years. They were not just friends, they were family. Another treasured lifelong relationship was with her cousin, Joyce Carroll. They would go to lunch, talk and shop together. Karen really valued her relationship with Joyce and was happy to be able to spend time with her later in life. Karen’s grandchildren call her ‘Bestemor’ which is Norwegian for grandmother. Bestemor loved having lengthy conversations with her grandsons, Tyler and Kevin. She would spend hours talking to Kevin about anything and everything.

She is survived by her daughter, Erica Lande Crisson, and Steven T. Obrock, and two grandsons, Tyler and Kevin. She was an animal lover and treasured her two dogs, Maya and Freya and her cat, Dakota. She is also survived by her “Adopted Other Daughter,” Stacy Remantas who she treated as one of her own.

A Memorial Service will be planned for the spring or early summer of 2023 in New York.

In lieu of flowers, please celebrate Karen’s memory by donating to her favorite charity: Samaritans.

Arrangements are entrusted to the care of the Fenton and Hennessey Funeral Home, 55 Westminster Street, Bellows Falls, VT.

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Lorena Cimino

posted February 26, 2023

Karen and I met when we were ten years old. We immediately became best friends. Many years of fun and love were shared. Prayers to Erica and her family.
May my dear friend rest in peace.
Love, Lorena

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