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Karen Fritz was a nurse with an international non-profit medical team that worked in Afghanistan in the 1970s and 1980s. She was also the daughter of Dale and Muriel Fritz, who were part of a University of Wyoming team of agricultural advisor’s for ICA (International Cooperation Agency) in the 1950s. Karen was born in Worland, Wyoming in 1948 and when she was five the family moved to Kabul, Afghanistan where she spent most of her youth. In 1966 she returned to Wyoming, graduating from the University of Wyoming with a nursing degree in 1970. After obtaining her RN license she worked in Denver, Colorado and Kentucky before returning to Afghanistan in 1972 until 1974 as part of a nonprofit medical team that worked with medical outreach services to isolated rural areas of Afghanistan, setting up clinics, hospitals, and health education services. These medical facilities were supported by the Medical Assistance program (MAP) and International Assistance Mission (IAM). In 1985 Karen returned to Afghanistan to work with the Mother and Child Health Clinic (MCH) in a city that was under occupation and dealing with war in the region. She worked there for five years and in 1990 she moved to the United Kingdom and became a nurse educator until retirement.