Karin Pfisterer

Summers Funeral Home

Altogether<br/>4307 Vineland Road, Suite H-17-19, Orlando, FL 32811<br/>For more information, visit our website at <a href='www.altogetherfuneral.com'>www.altogetherfuneral.com</a><br/>Copyright © 2025 FPG Intermediate Holdco, LLC

Karin Marie (née Floyd) Pfisterer passed from this world peacefully on July 9, 2023 of natural causes.

Karin was born in Dover, NH on September 16, 1935, the last of three daughters (Cynthia, Shirley), to John and Aune (née Sundelin) Floyd.  John was a professor of French at the University of New Hampshire; they lived in the college town of Durham, NH from 1935 until 1942. In 1942 her father received a scholarship to learn to teach Spanish at a university in Bogotá, Colombia. Her father and mother went there ahead of their children and arranged for them to travel there to meet them a year later.And so it was that the three sisters, ages 8, 11, and 12 traveled in 1943, unaccompanied by an adult, from South Paris, Maine to Colombia. The trip took three days with an overnight in Miami, FL, where the girls were locked alone in a hotel room for the night, and Baranquilla, Colombia where they were hosted by the US Consulate.  A small Colombian plane took them the final stretch to the Bogotá airport in the mountains at 8600’ elevation. Karin attended a Spanish school in Bogotá where she learned to speak Spanish fluently.

She returned to the US in 1945 where she attended 6th grade in South Paris, Maine while living with her aunt.  Her mother and father returned in 1947 as John was teaching at Boston University and they lived on Cape Cod. Her father started working for the US Office of International Information and Cultural Affairs in 1948 which resulted in a move to Havana, Cuba. Karin has many fond memories of her three years in Havana, especially the parties at the country club the family belonged to. Karin returned to the US for her sophomore year in high school when her father was assigned to the headquarters of the US Information Agency in Washington, DC.  She attended Western High School and graduated in 1953. She attended George Washington University in Washington, DC from 1953 to 1957 when she graduated with a degree in Sociology. Summers were spent waitressing at Hill’s Restaurant on Cape Cod where she again accumulated many fond memories. She and her older sister Shirley shared a room and worked together at the restaurant. If you knew Shirley you could only imagine what kind of antics the two got up to.

In 1957 Karin moved to San José, Costa Rica where her father was working as the Director of the Centro Cultural which was part of the US Information Agency. It was in San José that Karin met the love of her life, Mario Pfisterer whose father was in Costa Rica designing the children’s hospital (he was an architect). Karin wanted to travel and had lined up a job at an enlisted men’s club in Korea, but Mario enticed her back to Washington, DC where he was pursuing his Master’s degree in education at the University of Maryland. They were married on June 20, 1959 in Washington, DC and remained married for 48 years until Mario’s death. Upon returning from their honeymoon their first piece of mail as a married couple was Mario’s draft notice.  They moved to Atlanta, Georgia and then back to the DC area a few years later.Their first child, a son, Marc, was born in 1961 in Maryland.Mario joined the US Department of Defense Dependent Schools (DODDS) system which would become his career for 30 years.  This provided Karin and Mario the chance to travel and live abroad and raise a family. This experience defined a large part of her life.Their first assignment was the US Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The family was evacuated to the US during the Cuban Missile Crisis in October of 1962. The young couple’s 2nd son, Adrian, was born in 1963 in Cuba.  

In 1965 the family moved to a small US military base in Évreux, France where Mario was charged with closing the base school down due to France leaving NATO.After closing the school down, the family moved to Butzbach, Germany in 1966 for one year.Then Mario’s job took the family to Upper Heyford, England from 1966 - 1968, and to Catania, Sicily in 1969 where Mario was the elementary school principal on the US Naval Base there. Karin made a home for the family in quite rough conditions in a primitive house near the base that had a view of the Mt. Etna volcano from the back patio. Throughout the family’s travels Karin had a knack for making wonderful homes in interesting and sometimes challenging places.1970 brought the young family to Ansbach and Nurnberg, Germany until 1975.

In 1975 Karin and her family moved to Madrid, Spain where Mario was stationed at Torrejón Air Force Base. Three months after their arrival the dictator Francisco Franco died which resulted in uncertain times for US military personnel living there. Karin has memories of Spanish military men with machine guns patrolling large areas near their house. In 1977 Mario was assigned to be the principal at an elementary school in Suffolk, England where Karin and Mario would spend the next 10 years getting their boys through high school and off to college. Karin was involved in helping renovate an old Rectory where they lived, parts of which dated back to the 14th century. She volunteered on the Sutton Hoo Anglo Saxon boat excavation (subject of the movie The Dig) and they attended world class classical music concerts at the Aldeburgh Festival of Music three miles from their rural house often walking through the English countryside  to the performances.

In 1987 after their sons had moved out Karin and Mario moved back to Madrid, Spain and then on to Athens, Greece where they had a house on the Greek coast.  Again, Karin succeeded in making a comfortable home in somewhat primitive conditions. Throughout their time overseas Karin loved to entertain in her home. There were frequent parties for the teachers including infamous pig roasts at The Old Rectory in England. She also loved to host visiting guests who frequently used their home as a ‘base’ from which to further explore Europe.

Upon Mario’s retirement in 1993 after 30 years of service to the Department of Defense Karin and Mario moved to the White Mountains of New Hampshire, and then to New Smyrna Beach, Florida where they enjoyed some of their retirement years in a condo on the beach. Over the course of 30 years Karin managed the moving and resettling of the entire household 12 times, no small feat. She was a kind and patient mother who believed in letting her kids take risks and figure things out on their own.

In 1997 they moved to Boise, Idaho to follow their sons whose paths had taken them west. There Karin enjoyed the hot summers and wintered in Florida while they continued traveling, this time for pleasure, not work. Karin became a grandmother in September of 2001 and again in 2003. Subsequent years were quiet ones and Karin enjoyed her time with the grandchildren. Karin was widowed in 2007 when Mario died bringing to an end 48 years of marriage. She continued to live on her own, and then, as the years got the better of her, moved to The Terraces in Boise, an independent and assisted living facility, where she lived the rest of her life. One cannot ask for a better way to transition out of this life. She was never in pain and went quietly in her sleep. She was well cared for. Many thanks go to the staff at The Terraces for their kind and patient care.

Karin is survived by her two sons, Adrian and Marc, both of Boise; her two older sisters, Cynthia Immonen of South Paris, Maine, and Shirley Murray of Ayr, Scotland; grandsons Peter Pfisterer and Calvin Pfisterer of Boise, Idaho; nieces Pam (Murray) Logan of Arran, Scotland, and Karin Murray of London, UK; nephew John Murray of Ayr, Scotland.

When words can't fully express what we want to say, sometimes a small gift can. Visit our Memorial Store for personalized gifts, keepsake jewelry and to plant a memorial tree.

We use cookies to improve your browsing experience and analyze site traffic.
<privacyLink>Privacy Policy</privacyLink>.

<firstParagraph>We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze how you use this website, store your preferences, and provide the content and advertisements that are relevant to you. These cookies will only be stored in your browser with your prior consent.</firstParagraph><secondParagraph>You can choose to enable or disable some or all of these cookies but disabling some of them may affect your browsing experience.</secondParagraph>

<firstParagraph>We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.</firstParagraph><secondParagraph>The cookies that are categorized as 'Necessary' are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site.</secondParagraph>

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

Analytics

Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.

Functional

Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.

Necessary

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

Performance

Customize Cookie Preferences

Verification Successful!

New Message

The following files could not be uploaded

Ways you can honor {memorialName}'s memory:

Donation Link

Upcoming Event

Featured Mementos

Welcome Message

Select an item to highlight

Add a highlighted item

Customize which items you’d like to highlight on the memorial

Create Account

Become a Keeper

As a free {brandName} user, you will only be able to make 5 photos and videos public.

As a free {brandName} user, only the first five (5) Mementos are visible to page visitors. You can change which Mementos are public by dragging and dropping a photo or video to one of the first five positions. Upgrading to {brandName} Plus will make all 10 Mementos selected visible to the public.

All Mementos

This option is only available to Keeper Plus users.

To allow yourself and the rest of the community to view all images and videos, and to enable everyone to download their own copy of these mementos, upgrade your account to Keeper Plus.

This memento is not visible to visitors

Your community has posted {itemCount} more pictures and videos that honor {firstName}'s memory. To view them all, and to enable everyone to download their own copy of each, this account will need to upgrade to Keeper Plus.

View all images and videos with Keeper Plus

Our Obituary Assistant helps you craft a meaningful life story in minutes. Review and edit every detail, and unlock more features with Keeper Plus.

Obituary Assistant

Spend as much time as you need working on your Memorial page before it is visible to the public, and much more, when you upgrade to Keeper Plus.

Save Page as Draft

Create unlimited event pages and unlock a suite of powerful features to help you seamlessly coordinate event details, invites, and more when you upgrade to Keeper Plus.

Event

Create a full picture of your loved one’s community and add unlimited family and friends to Loved Ones when you upgrade to Keeper Plus.

Loved One

Create unlimited Memorials — and unlock unlimited images and videos, event pages, and advanced privacy settings — to help you keep memories alive when you upgrade to Keeper Plus.

Memorial Page

Add unlimited Stories to highlight the all the things that made your loved one unique, from milestones, images, albums, documents, locations, and much more.

Highlight Stories

Upgrading to Keeper Plus means you can add additional Keepers to help you gather Mementos and tributes, approve content, build out a family tree, and tell {firstName}' story on Keeper.

Invite Keepers with Keeper Plus

Upload and display unlimited photos and videos, use unlimited Story templates to highlight key moments, and allow friends and family to download their own copies when you upgrade to Keeper Plus. 

Better Mementos with Keeper Plus

To access memorial related configurations that control the display of the banner upgrade to Keeper Plus.

This configuration  is not available on your current plan

Create a meaningful link path to add a personal touch to {firstName}'s memorial.

Custom Memorial link

Gift Messages

SENDING AS A GIFT?

Cart

About 1-800 Flowers

"Flowers were beautiful and they arrived in time before the funeral. Thank you and will purchase more in the future.!"

Hearing Tears

"Beautiful flowers, I've always enjoyed sending them to my love ones for sympathy and they have always love them very much Thanks for making people feel good when receiving them."

Sympathy

"This was true to the photo and good to know family took arrangement after the service."

Beautiful arrangement.  Perfect size for service.

Some of the great things our customers say about us

We're here to make it a little easier, with thoughtful gifts for the services & home, along with expert advice on how to be there during a difficult time.

Flowers

Gift Baskets

Express Your Deepest Sympathy

About Us

Perfect Condolence Gift

No one is meant to grieve alone

Peace and love

Product is made, packaged, and sent with love

Keepsakes

How to add your gift message

Packaging Information

Shipping information

Add a Personalized Charm to the Ornament:

Other Keepsakes

Install KeeperQR onto any headstone, urn, or other memorial in minutes.

Install

Use your phone or tablet to scan the unique code — no other tools required!

Scan

All three of our elegant KeeperQR designs are printed using durable, weather-resistant aluminum designed for indoors and outdoor use on headstones and urns, memorial benches and trees, or other monuments to your loved one’s life

Built to Last

Get <discount>50% off</discount> Keeper Plus with your KeeperQR purchase

Keeper Basic

Learn About Our Plans

Connect the physical and digital worlds to share your loved one’s life story with friends and family, no matter where they are.

KeeperQR Memorial QR Code Plaques

Planting a memorial tree or bereavement tree is a unique, environmentally conscious way to pay tribute and honor the memory of your loved one. Keeper Memorials is supporting American Forests to plant whitebark pine trees as well as thornscrub trees in select regions of the US and Canada.

Memorial Trees

KeeperQR is designed to pair seamlessly with a Keeper digital memorial. Use our FREE intuitive tools to create biographies, maps, and timelines, share photos and videos, and more with customizable features built to commemorate your loved one’s life’s story.

Powered by Keeper

Lifetime without any hidden costs or subscription traps

One time payment

Keeper is SOC2 compliant, keeping your memories safe and secure.

Data protection guaranteed

We bring your QR Codes to any corner of the globe

Worldwide Shipping

Our durable and beautiful QR code plaques create seamless connection between your loved one’s physical memorial and their digital memorial, allowing visitors to their final resting place instant access to their life legacy.

Memorial.

Honor their memory, share their story

A KeeperQR is a weather-resistant plaque with a custom QR code that links directly to your loved one’s digital memorial. When placed on a headstone, urn, bench, or tree, it allows friends and family to scan and view their life story instantly

What is a KeeperQR?

They’re built to withstand outdoor elements and adhere to most surfaces.

Where can I place the KeeperQR?

How does it work?

Frequently asked questions

KeeperQR

E-Certificate Design

Plant Memorial Trees as a Living Tribute

BRAZIL

CANADA

FLORIDA

OREGON

Memorial Project Reach

Memorial trees start at {price} per tree, with discounts for multiple trees

Our Commitment

Gift Baskets & Food

Keeper Plus

QR Plaques

Keepers Featured Products

A Greener Way to Remember

Learn about our Partners:

Help Us Complete Your Order

Remembrance Store

Through your unique link, your client can sign up for Keeper and create a Memorial for a loved one. When the Memorial page is completed by the family, it will appear on your microsite and website. You will be the main Keeper Administrator of the Memorial, along with the family member that created the page.

Invite Your Clients to Create a Memorial

Invite Families

Your Email Notifications

Notifications

Email Unsubscribe Settings

Other Settings

With your active Keeper PLUS subscription, you get unlimited access to a suite of powerful features:

Allow visitors to download a local copy of all images and videos.

Download Media

Create a custom and meaningful URL, unique to your loved one, for each Memorial page.

Editable URL

Plan public or private events and invite your loved ones.

Event Pages

Add images and create profile pages to illustrate the history and genealogy of your loved one.

Family Tree

Invite unlimited administrators to help you manage every Memorial page you have.

Keeper Administrators

Visitors enjoy unrestricted access to all uploaded images and videos.

Unlimited Media

Create unlimited Memorial pages for your loved ones.

Memorial Pages

You will be able to upload Full HD videos instead of embedded links.

Video Uploading

Your Profile

Add a business user

Edit a business user

Are you sure you want to delete these users from these brands? You will need to manually add these users again.

If the user is a part of multiple brands, you will have to delete the user from each one individually

Delete Users from Brands?

Users Settings & Notifications

Users

Are you sure you want to delete these users? This action will revoke their privileges across all brands.

Are you sure you want to delete this user? This action will revoke their privileges across all brands.

Delete Users from all Brands?

Delete User from Brand?

Are you sure you want to delete {totalDeletes} from this user?

Delete Roles from this User?

Are you sure you want to delete this user from this brand? You will need to manually add this user again.

Delete User from this Brand?

Requires users to confirm their email every time they would like to share a tribute on a Memorial page.

When Email Tribute Validation is turned OFF, Guest users do not need to confirm their email address before their tribute is published.

When Email Tribute Validation is turned ON, Guest users will need to confirm their email address before their tribute is published. They will receive an email with a confirmation link they must click.

Requires users to confirm their email only the first time they would like to share a tribute on a Memorial page.

Email Tribute Validation

If Flagged Content is turned OFF, content that has been flagged will remain public until they have been Approved or Removed from the Requests Center.

If Flagged Content is turned ON, content that has been flagged will be hidden until they have been Approved or Removed from the Requests Center.

Hide Flagged Content

Language

Email Notifications

Are you sure you want to delete the Memorial for {name}? This action will permanently remove the memorial from the system.

Delete Memorial?

When Memorial Request Moderation is turned OFF, Memorials will automatically be published.

When Memorial Request Moderation is turned ON, Memorials will only be published if and when you approve them. Memorials can be published or deleted in the Requests center.

Memorial Request Moderation

Moderation Settings

This will permanently delete your account. The business account, and business page will not be deleted. To deactivate your account, there must be another admin user assigned to your organization.

Are you sure you want to deactivate this account?

When Override Tribute Moderation is turned OFF, the tribute moderation settings on Memorial pages will be hidden and other Keepers cannot override the tribute moderation settings specified by your organization.

When Override Tribute Moderation is turned ON, other Keepers can view and change the tribute moderation settings of the Memorial pages they manage. (Each Memorial page will default to the organization’s tribute moderation setting upon creation.) 

Override Tribute Moderation

If the AI Content Moderation is OFF, text areas containing profane language will be published.  Tributes can however be flagged and removed at any time.

If the AI Content Moderation is ON, text areas containing profane language will not be published and the user will receive an error message.

AI Content Moderation

When Tribute Moderation is turned OFF, Tributes will automatically be published. Once published, users can flag inappropriate or spam content. You can instantly delete any Tributes published on a Memorial that you administer.

When Tribute Moderation is turned ON, Tributes will only be published if and when you approve them. Tributes can be approved or rejected in the Requests center.

Karin Pfisterer Obituary | Altogether