Our mother Leslie Karau, age 80, passed away peacefully early on February 20, 2026, after a ten-year journey with a form of dementia. Although she experienced some memory impairment, she continued to recognize friends and family and to communicate up until her final days. Her experience was primarily one of physical decline. A fiercely independent woman, she found it difficult to accept her loss of mobility and the ability to care for herself. She had to learn lessons of letting go, of acceptance, and of humility, which she came to do with grace.

Leslie was born in 1945 to Al and Rose Lint of Redford, MI. The oldest of four, she was a loving big sister. At the age of 19 she married her high school sweetheart, our father Vince Salvia. She always wanted to be a mom, and she achieved her wish of having a family of her own, with three children born in five years.

Our move to Wisconsin in 1973 and being at a distance from her support network of family and friends was a difficult transition for her, but she grew to love rural Wisconsin. She loved indoor and outdoor gardening, was an avid reader, and was a devoted and loving mother.

Our parents' separation and divorce were acrimonious, but as the years passed, they mellowed, first to being cordial, then friendly, and then once again friends.

Leslie worked in sales as a realtor and then as sales manager when we opened a family business. She remarried, to Duane Karau, and after her retirement purchased land in a remote part of Marinette County along the Menominee River. She built a house on the property and happily lived there for 13 years. A second divorce and declining health made her recognize the need to be closer to family in Appleton. Over the past six years she lived first in an apartment, then in assisted living, and then in memory care, all along the Fox River with the views she loved.

Leslie was preceded in death by her parents, her sister Cherrie, and her brother Fred. She is survived by her brother Helmut (Carole) Lint, her children Lisa (Rick) Kurtzweil, Vince (Sarah) Salvia, and Dominic (Steph) Salvia, her lifelong friend Vicki, and by numerous grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and extended family and friends.

We are deeply grateful to the staffs of Eagle Court Memory Care and Moments Hospice for their compassionate care.

Arrangements are being made for a memorial service in the Spring; we'll share further details when they are available.