Works by Karns included "Giuseppe March" (1898), "Kentucky Rag" (1898), "Bluffton Carnival Rag" (1899),[4] "Ragamuffin" (1899), "Blufftonian Waltzes" (1900), and "Yo' Got to Hab a License or Yo' Can't Get In" (1905, lyrics by Laverne Brown).

[5] Verdi Karns married her neighbor, lawyer Raymond R. Sturgis, in 1908.

The couple moved to the American Southwest for health reasons, settling in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and then in Phoenix, Arizona.

Verdi Karns Sturgis died in Phoenix in 1925, aged 42 years, from tuberculosis.

[1] Pianist Nora Hulse has included performances of Verdi Karns's music on several of her CDs, including Cake Walks, Two Steps and Rags by Women Composers (1999), Ragtime Refreshments (2002),[7] and 60 Years of Ragtime Piano.