Kären Anne (Carlson) Loving

Kären Anne Carlson Loving, 75, of Landrum, passed away peacefully on May 14, 2026 after an extended illness.

Daughter of Colonel Evans Charles Carlson, USMC, and Regina Gaughan Carlson, she grew up on or near Marine Corps bases throughout the United States, including Kaneohe, Hawaii and Beaufort, South Carolina. She attended George C. Marshall H.S. in Northern Virginia, where she became an accomplished equestrienne.

Kären attended Bridgewater College in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia where she majored in piano performance and met her future husband, John Loving. They settled in Falls Church, Virginia where John was a teacher and coach. Together, she and her husband raised three sons: John-Claude, Gabriel and Benjamin.

Kären was a tireless advocate and supporter of her children making training meals, sewing costumes, and getting them to countless practices, games, rehearsals, and performances. She became a highly successful and often honored Realtor in Northern Virginia specializing in first homes for young marrieds.

The Lovings retired first to North Carolina and then to South Carolina. There, Kären took up the task of better understanding her controversial grandfather, USMC General Evans Fordyce Carlson. This led her to Furman University where she graduated Cum Laude in Asian Studies. She learned to read and write Mandarin Chinese and was honored as a Freeman Asia Scholar. Her interest took her to China five times to study, tour, and lecture. During her studies at Furman, Kären became active in the United States Marine Raider Association. The Association included former members and family of the Marine special forces units in WW II co-founded by her grandfather, General. Evans F. Carlson. She served on the Board of Directors of the Raider Association and was twice elected President. Marked successes of her tenure with the Raiders were that she successfully lobbied to have the modern special forces Marine units renamed the Raiders after the WW II originals. When the remains of nineteen Marines from her grandfather’s pioneering submarine raid on Makin Island in the Pacific were recovered, she was part of a successful effort lobbying congress to have thirteen of them buried together in Arlington National Cemetery in 2001.

Kären was the Matron of Honor for the Keel Laying and Commissioning of the Amphibious Assault Carrier USS “Makin Island (LHD 8)”. She led a delegation of World War II Raiders to China to see where General E.F. Carlson learned guerrilla warfare tactics. Working with the University of South Carolina, she sponsored and co-hosted a delegation of Chinese Ambassadors and diplomats to Greenville and Columbia, SC for a symposium on her grandfather. She worked with Stephen Platt as he wrote “The Raider”, a scholarly and balanced biography of her grandfather. The Raiders from WWII and the newly designated Marine Raider members quickly became part of her extended family.

A lifelong lover of animals, she and her husband over the years kept donkeys, parrots, cats, and dogs. In later years, they founded Looking Glass Mastiffs and became successful, honored breeders of the English Mastiff. They produced dozens of American Kennel Club Champions, International Champions, a Grand Seiger Champion and were awarded two ribbons at the Westminster Dog Show. She loved breeding, and training these big lovable dogs, and especially loved raising the puppies. The families who came to own her dogs also became a part of her extended family.

More recently, she became a talented painter in oils taking lessons from local master, Diarmuid Kelly.

She was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints for 35 years, often serving as a choir director and historian.

Hers was an active and eventful life characterized by love and service, putting others first and helping them become better. She was the caregiver to her elder brother E.J, her mother Regina Carlson, her Aunt, Vivian Gaughan, and her mother- in-law, Gerry Loving in their final days.

She is survived by her husband of 55 years, John, of Landrum, South Carolina, and her sons: John-Claude (Andrea), of Alexandria, Virginia; Gabriel (Robin), of Knoxville, Tennessee; Benjamin (Jody), of Beacon, New York and her brother, Thomas Fordyce Carlson, of Columbia, South Carolina. She is also survived by six grandchildren: Jackson and Nathaniel of Tennessee, Mary Carlson, John David, and Nicholas James of Virginia, and Camille June of New York.

A Celebration of Life Service will be held on May 31, 2026 at 2 PM at Liberty Methodist Church, 4276 Hwy 414, Landrum, South Carolina 29356, with a reception to follow.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to Semper Fi & America’s Fund a nonprofit providing lifetime support to critically wounded, ill, and injured service members and military families.  https://thefund.org/donate

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