
Home Reunion Schedule Contacts Alumni In Memoriam Registration Form Send us your bio and a recent picture	Karen Bame Spouse/partner: Richard Sundell Children: no children, but we do have a 17-year old diabetic cat named Rachel What have I been doing since high school? Unfortunately, I am not able to come to our 30th reunion. I am sorry that I won’t be able to see many of you and find out in person what has been going on in your lives. I am also unable to provide a picture, since my husband and I are Luddites, and thus do not own a digital camera or a cell phone. For those of you attending the reunion, I still look exactly like Dorthe (except my hair is longer), so when you see her you will have a good idea of what I look like. If Dorthe posts a picture with her bio, then the rest of you will have an idea. After graduating from LAHS, I spent 9 years in Southern California--the first 4 at UC-Santa Barbara where I earned a B.A. in Biochemistry/Molecular Biology, and the next 5 at UCLA, where I earned my Ph.D. in Biological Chemistry. I then moved to Birmingham, AL, to do a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Living in the south was an interesting experience, especially since as a single, childless woman in my late 20s, I was somewhat unique in Birmingham. In December of 1989, I left Alabama and moved to Missouri to become an assistant professor in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. I have been at UMKC ever since, attaining tenure in 1997. I spend my days teaching undergraduates and graduates biochemistry, and doing basic research on an enzyme called heparanase. I met my husband Rick the first month I was in Kansas City, but it took 4 years for us to decide to date, and then another 4 years for us to decide to marry. We will be celebrating our 9th wedding anniversary the week of the reunion. Since both of us were “old” by the time we married, we chose not to have children, and instead enjoy our nieces and nephews. The “Bame” nieces and nephews (and their parents and grandparents) bring us back to New Mexico every year, although no longer to Los Alamos. My mom passed away in 2001, and last year Daddy decided to move to Albuquerque to be closer to my sisters, Dorthe and Barbie. Indeed, last December was only the second time in 48 years that I didn’t spend time in Los Alamos at Christmas. While I miss the mountains of northern New Mexico, I have learned to enjoy the trees and rolling hills of western Missouri (yes there are hills). But I don’t think I will ever learn to enjoy the humidity! Back to Alumni

Karen Bame

Spouse/partner: Richard Sundell

Children: no children, but we do have a 17-year old diabetic cat named Rachel

What have I been doing since high school?

Unfortunately, I am not able to come to our 30th reunion. I am sorry that I won’t be able to see many of you and find out in person what has been going on in your lives. I am also unable to provide a picture, since my husband and I are Luddites, and thus do not own a digital camera or a cell phone. For those of you attending the reunion, I still look exactly like Dorthe (except my hair is longer), so when you see her you will have a good idea of what I look like. If Dorthe posts a picture with her bio, then the rest of you will have an idea.

After graduating from LAHS, I spent 9 years in Southern California--the first 4 at UC-Santa Barbara where I earned a B.A. in Biochemistry/Molecular Biology, and the next 5 at UCLA, where I earned my Ph.D. in Biological Chemistry. I then moved to Birmingham, AL, to do a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Living in the south was an interesting experience, especially since as a single, childless woman in my late 20s, I was somewhat unique in Birmingham. In December of 1989, I left Alabama and moved to Missouri to become an assistant professor in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. I have been at UMKC ever since, attaining tenure in 1997. I spend my days teaching undergraduates and graduates biochemistry, and doing basic research on an enzyme called heparanase.

I met my husband Rick the first month I was in Kansas City, but it took 4 years for us to decide to date, and then another 4 years for us to decide to marry. We will be celebrating our 9th wedding anniversary the week of the reunion. Since both of us were “old” by the time we married, we chose not to have children, and instead enjoy our nieces and nephews.

The “Bame” nieces and nephews (and their parents and grandparents) bring us back to New Mexico every year, although no longer to Los Alamos. My mom passed away in 2001, and last year Daddy decided to move to Albuquerque to be closer to my sisters, Dorthe and Barbie. Indeed, last December was only the second time in 48 years that I didn’t spend time in Los Alamos at Christmas. While I miss the mountains of northern New Mexico, I have learned to enjoy the trees and rolling hills of western Missouri (yes there are hills). But I don’t think I will ever learn to enjoy the humidity!

Back to Alumni