Tribute to Karen Ketcher

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Posted: April 25, 2020

During a broadcast on April 24, 2020, PBS NewsHour paid tribute to Karen Ketcher, a citizen and employee of the Cherokee Nation who succumbed to COVID-19.

Ketcher served as the tribe’s director of self-governance after starting off in the community and cultural outreach program. Before that, she worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the agency’s Eastern Oklahoma regional office, rising to the senior leadership position there.

“Karen Ketcher dedicated her career to serving Native American tribes in her home state of Oklahoma and across the country,” PBS NewsHour reported on the broadcast. Her tribute starts around 53 minutes and 48 seconds into the program.

Ketcher was a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. She was known as “Granny Ketcher” for embracing everyone on the Cherokee Nation.

Cherokee Nation citizen and director of the tribe’s Self Governance department Karen Ketcher, of Stilwell, has passed…

Posted by Cherokee Nation on Monday, April 6, 2020

“Our hearts are heavy today as we mourn the passing of our dear friend Karen. This is a shock, both to the many loved ones Karen leaves behind, and to the Cherokee Nation as a whole. As Cherokees, we all feel the weight of her loss, which is tragic and too soon,” said Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. said earlier in April

Ketcher passed away on April 6. She was 70 years old.

“During her free time, Karen could be found somewhere supporting her children or grandchildren in whatever they were doing or spending time with her family at family craft days,” her obituary reads.

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