On May 7, 2024, during a morning nap, Christine Lundsten McKahan died of pulmonary failure in Menomonie, WI. She was 75. Christine was born March 14, 1949 in San Francisco, to Elaine and Lloyd Lundsten, a physician.
They moved to Rochester, MN, and eventually to Colorado Springs, where she grew up. She spent time in the summers with her grandparents on a lake near Fergus Falls, MN, along with her younger brother, Mark and their cousins. She was enterprising and creative.
In high school, she started The Tin Can, a teen night club in an old warehouse, ran her own summer daycare, with field trips in the family’s Jeep, and edited the yearbook. One of her friends took her to a Quaker meeting, a practice she continued until she died. She attended Sarah Lawrence College for a year, then moved to Portland, Oregon to live with her boyfriend.
After they broke up, she earned a BFA at Portland State University, with a focus on weaving. She dyed her own wool, used her own spinning wheel, wove beautiful rugs and wall hangings on her loom, and crocheted hundreds of distinctive hats. A lifelong artist, she especially loved Georgia O’Keefe and Navajo rugs and jewelry.
In her early twenties, Christine was diagnosed with schizo-affective disorder, a burden she carried for the rest of her life. In her late twenties, she moved back to the midwest and worked as a teacher. Happily, she met Jim McKahan, a painter.
They married in 1996 and lived in Ellsworth, WI, in an old country schoolhouse they remodeled. Years later, after an amicable separation, Christine moved to Menomonie and became a Certified Peer Specialist and was a founder of Milkweed Connections. She had much to offer from her decades of sobriety and her struggles with mental illness.
It was a good fit, and she loved her work. In her final months, bedridden, but with many friends and family visiting, Christine was often infectiously joyful, laughing heartily and even singing. She is survived by her husband, Jim; her brother, Mark (of Anacortes, Washington); and a number of aunts, uncles, and cousins.
She will be greatly missed by all who knew her. A memorial celebration of Christine’s life will be held at the Alano Club in Menomonie at 5 PM, Thursday, September 12, 2024..
