Karalyn Sue Talsma Schroder was born February 17, 1936, in the middle of one of the coldest and snowiest winters in Iowa history. The harsh winds created drifts so high that people walking on top of drifts were sometimes walking above the telephone lines. In the midst of this, her father, James Talsma Sr. and her mother Nellie Baarda Talsma traversed the gravel roads across the snow-covered landscape to Skiff Hospital where Dr. Anspach delivered Karalyn. Karalyn had four siblings, Dorothy (VandeKieft), Eunice (Davidson), William Talsma, and James Talsma Jr. to welcome her home. Seven years later, after the tragic drowning death of brother Bill in the Skunk River, a younger sister, WillaJo (Stursma) was born.

Once spring came, bringing relief from the harsh winter, one of the hottest summers on record followed. It was the middle of the Great Depression and severe heat brought 100 plus degree temperatures setting records that still stand today. Growing up during the Depression fostered a toughness and resourcefulness that Karalyn carried throughout her life.

Karalyn attended elementary school in the one-room schoolhouse up the hill from their home in the country. Karalyn was a tomboy and could stand her own with any boy. Later, when her brother Jim went into the service, it was Karalyn who helped her father on the farm driving a tractor and learning to back trailers - a skill that served her well later when she and her husband Duan would spend their summers fishing on their boat every weekend - first with a small aluminum bottom boat with an outboard motor on the Skunk River or at the gravel pit (Van Dusseldorp at the time - now Quarry Springs) and later with their pontoon and the ski boat at Lake Red Rock where they camped. Between their fresh fish catches and their homegrown goods, Duan and Karalyn took pride in having delicious dinners they produced and procured on their own without anything except maybe their milk purchased from the store.

Growing up in the country midway between Newton and Colfax, when she completed elementary school at the one-room schoolhouse, Karalyn had the choice of which town's school to attend. Karalyn chose Colfax and was able to complete junior high in one year. Karalyn met her future husband, Duan Schroder, through her friend Patricia Schroder Edwards.

Karalyn played guard for the Colfax Tigers girls basketball team in high school - proudly wearing number 22 (sorry Caitlyn, Karalyn wore it first!) Always a fierce competitor, Karalyn's grandchildren would recall the injuries and damaged drywall resulting from a "friendly" game of spoons. After graduation, Karalyn continued playing basketball and played first base on the Colfax women's softball team until an ankle injury and the impending birth of her first grandchild Kendra and a milestone 40th birthday prompted her to forgo her softball days.

Karalyn was not finished pursuing excellence in sports and wanting to be the best. Karalyn bowled in 2 leagues on Tuesday and Thursday nights. Triangle Lanes in Colfax posted high games and series on paper bowling pins on the walls throughout the center. Karalyn's name was featured many times throughout the establishment. She also coached the Junior Bowling League for kids on Saturdays. Her competitive nature did not stop with just bowling. The yearly tradition of the bowling teams' Halloween costume contest was another opportunity to nab the top prize! One year the team won with their Wizard of Oz costumes. Karalyn was the Tin Man, and she and her teammates Dorothy, Scarecrow, Cowardly Lion and the Wicked Witch skillfully sewed their own costumes. Their sewing prowess was so grand that some competitors suspected they were store bought.

Karalyn worked for the Maytag company until she retired in 1994. Her fast-typing skills enabled her to secure a job in the Word Processing Department, taking dictation from the "big wigs" at Maytag. Before she worked at Maytag, Karalyn was part owner of the Pizza Palace on State St. in Colfax. It was the 1960s and Karalyn manned the pizza ovens and emptied kegs and all the difficult work required to run a restaurant, even while she was pregnant with Dawn. By the 70s, they sold the establishment to their neighbor Becky. Decades later, former patrons who frequented their restaurant during the 60s, still raved about the pizza Karalyn made. Karalyn would sometimes boast that the beloved pizza that Becky became known for - was HER recipe.

Growing up on a farm in the 30s and 40s before the mass expansion of monoculture crops reached its hiatus, the family grew or raised much of their own food and even had items like butter and eggs to sell at the local grocery store. Later Karalyn and Duan purchased a new home on an acre of land when they moved from a house on the hill with their children Debbie and Randy. While it wasn't a farm to the extent of where she grew up, they had horses for a bit, raised, trained and sold dogs and puppies including Weimaraners at first and later German Wired-Hair pointers. Karalyn and Duan grew all kinds of vegetables on their land including tomatoes, corn, green beans, onions, eggplant, peas, potatoes, etc. along with strawberries and apple and peach trees. Delicious asparagus sprouted in the Spring, followed by the pink and white and fuchsia blooms on the apple and crabapple trees that decorated the backyard. Duan did the planting, and Karalyn picked most of the bounty and canned green beans and multiple variations of tomatoes and pickled beets. She made delicious dill and sweet pickles, strawberry jam and pepper jam and as her nephew Bob Davidson described - salsa worthy of winning a ribbon at the Iowa State Fair. Her sister Eunice joined her as they boiled and cut corn off dozens of fresh garden-picked cobs to freeze and enjoy that fresh corn on the cob flavor throughout the winter.

Karalyn endeavored to make Christmas special for her family. When the kids were younger, she stayed up after they went to bed to sew Barbie doll clothes. Later she made extravagant bows like the ones from Nollens gift wrapping in Newton. Karalyn enjoyed playing cards and other games and doing her daily crossword puzzle including the Sunday New York Times crossword. She was an avid bird watcher with her Audubon reference book handy to identify visitors to the feeder outside her kitchen window. She named one of the downy woodpeckers Morticia and taught her grandkids to shoo the starlings away.

Karalyn Schroder died September 9, 2026, at the age of 90 at Trinity at Luther Park in Des Moines. She was preceded in death by her husband Duan, siblings William Talsma, Eunice (Robert) Davidson, Dorothy (Harold)Vande Kieft, Jim Talsma, her parents Nellie and James Talsma, brothers-in-law Robert Davidson, Harold Vande Kieft, Cornie Stursma, sister-in-law Pat Edwards, son-in-law Michael Leo and a niece Terri Raper.

Left with decades of fond memories are her sister Willa Jo Stursma, many nieces and nephews, her sisters-in-law Janaan (Phil) Schlegel and Bert Talsma and brother-in-law Dewey Edwards, and her three children: Debbie Schroder, Randy (Judy) Schroder, and Dawn Schroder; six grandchildren: Kendra (John) Lowe, Shawna (Chuck Morris) Jesse, Dezra (Robert) Prevatt, Stacy (Sean) MacMillen, Breawna (Chris) Psihogios, and Cole Schroder; and nine great-grandchildren: Hunter and Payton Jesse, Sean Sickels, Ash and Gemma Prevatt, Silas, Sage, and Sydney MacMillen, and Sylvia Psihogios.