12-Jun-1963 - 06-Jan-2023
“A thing of beauty is a joy for ever” John Keats
With deep sorrow the family of the much-loved Karen Paterson-Bowden of Schomberg, Ontario, Canada, announces her death on January 6, after a long and valiant struggle with lung disease. Karen, a celebrated script supervisor with a priceless talent in script-timing in Canadian and Hollywood television and film production, was 59. Best described by her family, friends, and workmates as whip-smart, beautiful, dazzlingly intelligent, a word genius, and as delightful, kind and generous as she was a perfectionist, Karen was affectionately known on set as “The Brain.”
Karen loved words and the legend was that she had swallowed a dictionary before she could walk. As a teenager in the theatre program at North Toronto Collegiate Dramatic Arts Program, Karen was sought out as a photogenic fashion model, with a stage and movie future, but she preferred being behind the camera with a script in her hand. No surprise to those who remember that one of her first multisyllabic words after “mama” and “dada” was in 1965, when not yet two years old, she went to sleep listening to her Mary Poppins LP and in the morning yelled out the world’s favorite new word — “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” that Mary Poppins fans claimed meant “extremely good” Karen certainly thought so. And so, her joy in the magic of language became her destiny.
Colleen Tapp, a marketing executive in Toronto who met Karen in 1973 when they were 10-yr-olds in Beaconsfield, Quebec, recalls their dynamically creative friendship. “Karen was alive with exciting ideas,” said Colleen. “She was so vibrant, so brilliant, so creative and my co-creator in all the fun we had together, staging dog shows, and parades, and on the snowy slopes in the Laurentians on our Ravens’ Ski Club outings every Saturday in the winter. Karen’s wit was extraordinary. She was curious, and fun, such a kind, good friend to me, always there to make me laugh and feel important.”
Karen’s curiosity and her love of mastering new skills in her limited spare time took her into the worlds of fine cooking, writing poetry and children’s stories, and mastering painstakingly intricate embroidery. One of her lifelong passions was cracking complicated historical international mysteries which connected her with a worldwide group of fellow puzzlers who became lifelong friends. Everything Karen created was a labor of precision and love — at home, the petit point embroidered cushion for her mother’s birthday, or at work the joy of the perfection of the elements of the production. It was those qualities of character and spirit and innate overflowing creative talent that drove Karen to seek excellence in her work. Excellence to her meant that from the script to costume, from lighting to makeup, from camera to direction and production, everyone could shine, everyone could be a star in their field.
Her days on set were long and focused on every detail, and her reputation for seeking perfection made her a favorite of stars such as Christopher Plummer, Walter Matthau, John Candy, Tony Shalhoub and Yo-Yo Ma. Over the years, Karen was known for the continuity and script supervision on multiple years of episodes of Lost Girl, Monk, ReGenesis, and Dark Matter. Diane Mazur, a leading make-up expert, now a real estate executive, who worked closely with Karen recalls their first meeting in 1999: “I thought she was so beautiful, so statuesque, and smart as a whip with a wonderful quick wit. She was a first-rate script supervisor — and never missed a thing; None of the up-and-comers had anything on her. Not even close.”
Karen was born in Scotland at Redlands Maternity Hospital, Glasgow, on June 12, 1963. In May 1966, she emigrated to Toronto, Ontario, with her parents where she lived mostly around Yonge and St. Clair until she and her husband, Roger Bowden, a generator operator, deep-sea diver and race car driver, bought a hobby farm in Schomberg, Ontario. In their time away from filming, together they raised miniature ponies, ostriches, goats and peacocks and Karen raised a family of her beloved boxers and King Charles Spaniels. In her wildflower and herb gardens Karen grew the vegetables and flowers that graced her dining room table when she hosted one of her famous dinner parties.
In addition to her grieving husband, Roger Bowden, and his extended family, Karen leaves behind her mother Sheena Paterson Berwick formerly of Toronto, her stepfather, Keith Berwick, (Santa Barbara, CA), her father Robert Paterson (Ajax, ON), her brother Paul Paterson and nieces Rhema and Kaiya Paterson (Ventura, CA), her uncle Jim Michie (Sheila) of Toronto, and cousins Lauren Michie-Hunter (Fitzroy) and Craig Michie (Alliston and Burlington, ON), the family of her deceased uncle Tom Michie (Janet) and cousins Simon and Andrew and family (Manchester and Chester, England), her cousins Linda Jayne Francis (Roy) and Laura Elsey (Cheltenham, England), her step-children Mark Bowden (Dawn), Sherri Currie (Brad) and Chantelle Bowden, sister and brother in-law Sandy and Jamie Johnston (Mississauga, ON) along with niece Kristy Johnston Tahir and nephews Jay and Jeff, much loved grandchildren Heather and Melissa Bowden, Jason Currie, Kodi-Lyn Rankin, Patrick Calhoun and Jason Allely, her great-grandchildren Johnny and Shamus Kemp, and her Berwick step-siblings, Sarah (Claude) Tyler, and Ryan (Boston, MA); Rebecca (Burbank, CA); Jeff (Vivienne) and Abby (Sunnyvale, CA) and Rachel (Warren) and Kai (Killingworth CT).
A celebration of life for Karen will take place in Spring 2023. The family asks that in lieu of flowers any donations be made to The Canadian Lung Association @ www.lung.ca
Arrangements entrusted to Taylor Funeral Home