BANGOR – On Feb. 3, 2004, we all lost an exceptional person with the unexpected passing of Karen Achorn-Ingalls. Karen Christine Achorn-Ingalls was born on March 26, 1956, the daughter of Paul E. and M. Christine (Meehan) Hayes of Brewer. She graduated from Brewer High School and earned her B.S., M.A. and C.A.S. degrees in Education from the University of Maine at Orono. Karen was a teacher in Bangor for 23 years. Beginning with a position at the former Garland Street Middle School, she then taught third grade at Fairmount School and since 1988 at Fourteenth Street School. Karen’s contributions in the areas of curriculum development and committee work spanned her entire teaching career. She was active as a member of the Bangor Education Association and had served in the demanding role of Chief Contract Negotiator. Karen represents the true model for the life-long learner. She came from a family who valued education and she worked determinedly to achieve her college degree and her subsequent advanced degrees. Karen’s energy and enthusiasm seemed limitless. Her legacy to all her students would be to remember her joy, her sense of fun, and the satisfaction of working hard to achieve your best. Karen is survived by her devoted husband, Jeffrey F. Ingalls of Bangor. She was a loving mother to her children, Jennifer, her husband, Cary Weston and their daughter, Madelyn; Melissa Achorn and Nicholas Achorn, all of Bangor; Ronald Ingalls, his wife, Lynn and their children, Rachel and Thomas of Hermon; Rebecca Ingalls of Ann Arbor, Mich.; Amanda I. Jones, her husband, Steve and their son, Matthew, of Boston; and Courtney Achorn Carr and children, Madison, Kayla and Samantha, of Arkansas. She also leaves her mother and father-in-law, Alvin and Doris Ingalls of Frankfort; four brothers and sisters, James Hayes and Julie Cameron of Brewer, Kathryn Hayes-Hallowell and her husband, James of Cape Elizabeth, Joseph Hayes and his wife, Susan of Brewer, Maura Emerson and her husband, Guillermo Olivos, of Germantown, Md.; nieces and nephews, Andrew and Robert Hayes, Justin and Sydney Hallowell, Colby Brown, and Will, Maegan and Zachary Olivos. Calling hours were held 6-8 p.m. Thursday at Kiley Funeral Home, 69 State St., Brewer. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 4 p.m. Friday at St. John’s Catholic Church, York Street, Bangor, with the Very Rev. Richard McLaughlin, pastor, celebrant. A reception will follow. In lieu of flowers, the family request that donations be made to the Karen Achorn-Ingalls Memorial Scholarship Fund, Bansco Credit Union, 868 Hammond St., Bangor, ME 04401.