Obituary of Karen Dorothy Wood

Peacefully at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital on Sunday, October 26, 2025, the death occurred of Karen Dorothy Wood (Ling) of Charlottetown, aged 72 years. Loving mother of son Benjamin, Edmonton, daughters Rachelle Wood, Riverview NB and Melanie Wood (Kim Bethke), Charlottetown. Cherished grandmother of granddaughter Liliana “Lily” Ferrari. Karen will be missed by her siblings Don Ling (Mary Kay) and Heather McGillivary. Predeceased by her parents Theophilus “Theo” Ling and Dorothy (Baker, Ling) Roper, sister Katherine Ling, her beloved husband of 44 years Lawrence “Lornie” Wood, and by her brother-in-law Derek McGillivary. 

Karen was born in Summerside and grew up in Charlottetown. When young, she lived in Australia for 3 years, which had a great influence on the rest of her life. After returning to the Island, she met her future husband in the community where they would go on to raise their family and spend their lives together. The pair married in 1978 and eventually built a home in Tarantum that they would share until Lornie’s sudden death in 2022. 

After her youngest child entered high school, she returned to the work force and worked in retail roles in Charlottetown where her outgoing personality and ability to make people laugh made her many friends. She was proud of her work at Afternoon Delight, Samuel & Co and Tabi, among others, before retiring in 2010.

At home, she was passionate about her garden and loved to harvest bouquets that she would donate to the local church. She also loved to travel with Lornie, hosting friends and family at their annual Christmas Open Houses, and hosting trivia at the Rec Center. Late in life she had no greater joy than spoiling her granddaughter Lily.

Many thanks to all of the exceptional health care professionals that have contributed to her care over the years, especially the emergency department at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, and the staff in Dr. Michelle McKenna’s family office.

Resting at Hillsboro Funeral Home from where the funeral service will be held in the funeral home chapel on Saturday, November 1 at 10:30 a.m.

No visitation by request. Interment will take place later at St. Patrick’s Cemetery, Fort Augustus PEI. Memorial donations may be made online to the Heart & Stroke Foundation or the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Foundation.