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Video taken from the Oregon Legislature Information System (OLIS) website of the floor session of the Oregon Senate on Wednesday, April 2, 2025. Senator Khanh Pham gave a special floor courtesy acknowledgment to Doren Elias and KB Mercer.
Here's a great example of KB Mercer, at her finest, giving oral testimony before the Oregon Legislative Committee Joint Committee on Carbon Reduction on February 15, 2019. 
Helping hands

In lieu of flowers

Please consider a gift to World Wildlife Fund, Siesta Key Environmental Defense Fund or National Audubon Society.
$3,214.12
Raised by 48 people
Sending with lots of love in memory of dear KB - a passionate, talented and beautiful woman ❤️

A 9-minute documentary about the making of the classic 1984 College Of Marin production of Charles Dickens’ “The Life And Adventures Of Nicholas Nickleby,” featuring KB in the cast. The fun with KB begins at the 5:45 mark, with KB playing Juliet in a spoof version of Romeo And Juliet from the play. A golden comic moment with KB for sure. ❤️

P.S. This video is not public on YouTube. It is unlisted. But I’m more than happy to share it with you guys, the people who loved KB. ❤️

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Like KB, I’m an alumni of the College Of Marin Drama Department, although KB was in the school’s Drama Department before me, so we didn’t cross paths back then. Although I never met KB in person, we became Facebook friends after the memorial of our late Drama teacher Jim Dunn, who passed away in 2018. KB was always so kind to me in our Facebook exchanges, and I’ll never forget the time I made her laugh by posting spoof names of various 80’s Pop groups on her Facebook page. She loved that. 

KB was also a superbly talented actress, and I’m happy to tell her family that we do in fact have recordings of KB acting her heart out in a few COM stage productions. We have a video of KB in her delightful performance as Titania the Fairy Queen in COM’s 1985 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, as well as a video of KB’s brilliant dramatic performance as Maggie in the 1985 play The Shadow Box. KB was also a part of the huge cast of 1984’s “The Life And Adventures Of Nicholas Nickleby,” where she had a hilarious moment in Part One as Juliet in a parody version of Romeo And Juliet. And finally, we also have a very good audio recording, originally made on reel to reel tape but now digitally transferred, of KB as Lucy in the 1984 production of Snoopy. These Drama recordings of KB are indeed very precious, and I would be more than happy to share them with KB’s family upon request. Just let me know via email. 

I wish I had known KB better, and, considering whatever it was that she was going through internally, I wish I could just give her a hug and tell her that everything would be okay, that she definitely had people in her life who loved her. But I will always treasure our interactions on Facebook. KB was such a kind, talented lady. I’m so sorry that she was in pain, and I pray that she is finally at peace. My deepest condolences to her husband, family and friends. And again, I do hope KB’s family will reach out to me if they would like copies of the Drama recordings we have of KB. May she rest in eternal peace. 💙

Karen was family to me during junior and senior high.  I loved her so . . . .  She provided support for my eccentricities and I delighted in hers.  We continued to share some fun moments during college, and then lost touch until briefly connecting on FB 4 years ago.  To me, she has always been and will always be a twinkling star.  

I am so saddened to hear this news. My name is Helen Duffy - I attended junior and senior high school at Girls Academy with KB .  I haven’t been in touch with her for years - since she left San Francisco. But What I’m struck by as I read through these condolences is that the same woman you knew is the one we loved when we were just 13, when we were 18, and into our early 20’s. She threw herself into projects with every ounce of her being - whether it was The Green Jumper (a school paper we produced using ditto machines in 8th grade) or trying to produce a googolplex, an impossibly high number that our science teacher told us was impossible.  

The world is diminished by her loss.  She was kind, wickedly funny, forthright in her beliefs, and always had a new project or zany idea up her sleeve. I have so many memories that have come flooding back, memories that make me smile and that I’ll cherish always.

Life is precious. I’m so sorry for your loss, Doren. I’m holding you and the family you built together in Portland close to my heart. Much love, Helen.

I learned today that KB has passed.  I was just randomly checking in on her Facebook wall and was shocked and saddened by the news.  My last substantive exchange with her was four years ago when I made campaign postcards for Ossoff and Warnock.  I live in Australia, and she had me post them to her in bulk.  She then paid for the individual postage and sent them off to various Georgian addresses.  

I met KB in 2002.  We were both in Lanford Wilson's Fifth of July.  I played Weston to her Gwen, and I was just as enamoured with her as my character was with hers.  Watching her do her role in rehearsals and performances was a master class in acting.  I was just in awe.  For a few years, she and her husband Doren employed me as an actor for the Travelling Lantern.  

She was outspoken, animated, and kind.  She was a ball of energy, and she could also give you her full attention.  

Those eyes.  Those expressive eyes.  They were the window to her soul.  Her brain was always going, ticking, creating, thinking, observing, manifesting.  She was something else.  This world is emptier without her.   She will be missed.  She will never be forgotten.  Legend.  

My thoughts to Doren, her family, her friends, all of the people and animals whom she touched and loved.  

Goodbye KB.  I hope to see you again one day.  

KB Mercer and MCAT (Mobilizing for Climate Action Together) volunteers urging for climate action after they placed banners on I-5 overpasses from Portland to Salem to counter anti-climate protests happening on February 6, 2020.
KB talking about her efforts to help organize MCAT (Mobilizing for Climate Action Together) volunteers to place banners on I-5 overpasses from Portland to Salem to counter anti-climate trucker protests happening on February 6, 2020.
A video of the oral testimony that KB Mercer gave to the Oregon Senate Environmental & Natural Resources Committee Hearing on February 8, 2020. KB spoke in favor of the cap and invest bill that was advocated by Renew Oregon to drastically reduce the state's to carbon emissions to tackle climate change. I recently found this video in the hard drive storage on my computer. 
A video I just uploaded to YouTube of KB Mercer giving great comments supporting Renew Oregon’s Clean Energy Jobs Bill at then GOP OR state Senator Cliff Bentz’s Carbon Pricing Town Hall on Tuesday, July 30, 2019 in The Dalles, OR. KB wanted me to film her giving her response to Cliff Bentz. I just found this video recently in the storage on my computer. 
Brian Ettling & KB Mercer…
2019, Jet Black Coffee Company, Northeast Weidler Street, Portland, OR, USA
Brian Ettling & KB Mercer meeting with OR Rep. Diego Hernandez
KB & Brian Ettling meetin…
2021
KB & Brian Ettling meeting with OR Senator Kayse Jama & Kien Truong
KB holding up a sign to suppo…
2020
KB holding up a sign to support OR Sen. Shemia Fagan when she was running to be OR Secretary of State
KB chatting with U.S. Senator…
2020
KB chatting with U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley
KB with U.S. Senator Jeff Mer…
2020
KB with U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley and OR Senator Jeff Reardon
KB & MCAT volunteers meet…
2020
KB & MCAT volunteers meeting with OR Senator Senator Sara Gelser Blouin​
KB & MCAT volunteers meet…
2020
KB & MCAT volunteers meeting with OR Senator Lew Frederick
KB & MCAT volunteers with…
2020
KB & MCAT volunteers with OR Senator Kathleen Taylor
KB & MCAT volunteers at O…
2020
KB & MCAT volunteers at OR Capitol lobbying legislators to support Clean Energy Jobs Bill
Brian Ettling & KB Mercer…
2020
Brian Ettling & KB Mercer meeting with OR Rep. Jeff Reardon
KB & Brian Ettling meetin…
2024
KB & Brian Ettling meeting w/ OR legislative staff for an MCAT Lobby Day

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