Karen Willetts hails from Frostburg where she graduated from Beall High School. While attending the College of Wooster, she spent her Junior year in Dakar, Senegal. She taught a few years in Ohio and then returned to Senegal as a short term missions teacher. After learning the local language, Wolof, she decided to study with Wycliffe Bible Translaters in Texas. 

At UTA, she received a 2 year Fulbright grant to Cote d’Ivoire. In Abidjan she worked at the Institute of Applied Linguistics and received her Masters in African Languages. Karen returned to the states to take care of parents and later married Dr. Pascal Kokora, former Ambassador from Ivory Coast to the US, and Georgetown French professor.

She worked in MCPS for 27 years enjoying her time at Springbrook H.S. as a French teacher in the International Baccalaureate program.
In retirement, she and her husband are supporting work on building a library in Esiama, Ghana and a health clinic in Fresco, Ivory Coast.