From the June 2005 Peg-Board

Designer, storyboard artist and teacher KAREN JEPSON CIRAULO died on April 1. She was killed in a car accident in New Mexico, in which her husband Ben Ciraulo was critically injured and is currently in rehabilitation.

She was a 1996 graduate of CalArts, where she wrote and animated two independent films. She began her career designing characters and animation for educational CD-ROM games. She later worked as a storyboard artist for Warners on Pinky and The Brain and for Klasky Csupo's The Wild Thornberrys.

After moving to the San Francisco Bay area, she earned a Masters Degree in Arts Administration at Golden Gate University. At the time of her death, she was the managing director of the Arts and Culture Commission of Contra Costa County and also taught art classes for the City of Brentwood.

Besides her husband, she is survived by her parents, Jim and Rosemary Jepson, her brother, Paul and his wife, Christine, and their three children, and many relatives, friends and associates.

A Celebration of Karen's Life will be held on her 32nd birthday, on July 24 in Sonoma, California. Please contact Trine Frank at (818) 240-3765, for information concerning the celebration.

-- Jim and Rosemary Jepson