Karen Anita Pendleton (August 1, 1946 – October 6, 2019)[1] was an original Mickey Mouse Club Mouseketeer on the ABC television series from 1955 to 1959.

[citation needed] Pendleton was recruited to audition for the Mickey Mouse Club when Disney producers visited a Los Angeles dance studio seeking young talent.

She was often coupled with Carl "Cubby" O'Brien in the television series and in live performances, as they were the youngest members of the cast.

[1] Following an automobile accident in 1983, in which she was paralyzed from the waist down, she returned to college and earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from Fresno State University.

[3] She worked at a shelter for battered women and served on the board for the California Association of the Physically Handicapped.