Karen, born in 1950 to parents Betty & Robert "Bob" Burgess, was raised, along with her older sister Barbara, on the Burgess ancestral farm.The original farm land was purchased in 1868 by Karen's Irish immigrant great-grandparents, John I. and Margaret (Wilson) Burgess. After John I.'s death in 1924, the land was owned by Karen's grandfather Tom and later by her father. Barbara & Karen, along with twenty-three of their first cousins, represent the fourth generation in this Burgess family.

Ben & Karen Meek were married in 1970. They have two married daughters and four grandsons. In 1987, Karen & Ben purchased a portion of the Burgess ancestral farm in Pottawatomie County, Kansas. The other portion is owned by cousin Denny Burgess. Karen's dad, Bob Burgess, who with his six other siblings grew up in the old stone house, still lives & works, at age eighty, on the farm of his youth. Several of Karen & Barbara's cousins were raised on the family farm and all have memories of visits to their grandparents, Tom & Mabel, as well as hunting and fishing outings, & summers spent working there. Many of the extended relatives live within an hour or two of this homestead & enjoy returning every two years for the Labor Day Reunion. In 2004, with the birth of Karen & Ben's fourth grandson, Alexander, there are now six generations who have lived on the Burgess farm and will continue this Kansas pioneer family's heritage.