Karen Estes, pictured with Mike Anglin
Resource Center late Tuesday night, Dec. 13, posted the following notice on its Facebook page:
Karen Estes, an LGBT advocate and straight ally who played key roles in the founding of what is now Resource Center, is in serious condition following a brief illness over the Thanksgiving holidays. She was a volunteer who was instrumental in the initial renovation of the Center’s Reagan Street campus (now the Simmons Health Campus) following the purchase of the site from what is now Cathedral of Hope in the early 1990s. Estes became a paid staff member under founding Executive Director John Thomas. When Thomas retired in 1997, Estes became a co-director of the Center [with Jamie Schield] and managed development, finance and operational programs. She served until a permanent replacement was found.
