Miss C. That’s what her students called her.
Karryn Alyssa Callier made her debut on December 16, 1987. She arrived early on that Wednesday morning to the delight of her parents Anthony Callier and Kimberly Callier (née Jimson). She had blue eyes, spiky baby doll lashes, round cheeks and opera singer lungs. She was the most beautiful baby ever. (The family refuses to entertain any debate about this.) As she grew, her eyes turned amber and then the amazing hazel people recognize today. She never grew out of the cheeks, which to her lament, people continued to pinch well into her teens.
Karryn grew up in Southern California’s Inland Empire. She graduated in 2005 from Washington High School in Colton, California. She went on to Riverside Community College where she was a member of the Ujima Project. She was active in her home church, Ecclesia Christian Fellowship, where she was in the Young Adult ministry and on the Events Planning team. She was a frequent visitor to Park Avenue Baptist Church in Riverside, California where her grandparents, Earl and Mary Tynes, were elders.
Karryn was a fighter, overcoming a health scare as a young adult that left her wheelchair bound for six months. She bravely fought back, enduring months of physical and occupational therapy to regain her mobility. Once she was on her feet again, there was no stopping her.
When her health rebounded, Karryn continued her education, completing her Bachelors in Sociology in 2017 at California State University, San Bernardino. After the Tyneses passed, Kimberly, Karryn and her brother Mychal Ross, who called her Alyssa, moved to North Texas to begin a new life.
Karryn thrived in the Dallas/Fort Worth metro. She quickly landed a job at a day care center. She threw herself into the role, collecting arts and crafts projects she would share with her students. If you needed to know how to make a lava lamp, she was your girl. She became a substitute teacher serving both the McKinney and Anna Independent School Districts where she was assigned to mostly high school classes. The students drew close to Miss C due to her dry wit and caring nature.
Karryn loved young people and was always ready to turn up to support them, especially at basketball games. Her seat cushion was always ready to go in the trunk of her car. Despite her “spirited” sideline commentary in favor of her favorite teams and players, she was never asked to leave a game, a fact the family can only attribute to the Grace of God.
Karryn loved to be on the go. She took cruises to Mexico, the Bahamas and Jamaica. The family journeyed to Hawaii in 2017 where Karryn was able to swim with dolphins, one of her fondest memories. Also, if it had stadium seating, she was there. If she wasn’t at a sporting event, she was at a concert, at a play or testing the limits of her Cinemark movie plan.
She joined One Community Church in Plano, Texas where she was active in the student ministry. She also found sisterhood with her life group, God’s Jewels, where they say she was the “life of the life group.” Friends and family describe her as a “beautiful woman of God” that will be greatly missed. They miss her beauty and her sense of humor, to which Karryn would likely roll her eyes and say, “Oh, Lordt!”
Of all the children she interacted with, there were two young ladies that held a special place in her heart. She was the fun aunt and loved her nieces Kynlee and Karter. She poured into them whenever she could and not being able to see them regularly was her only regret regarding moving to Texas.
She poured into kid after kid, but now her mission is complete. She departed this world at home the morning of July 21, 2023.
Karryn Callier leaves behind to mourn her passing, her mother, Kimberly Jimson of McKinney, Texas; father, Anthony Callier of Moreno Valley, California; brother, Mychal Ross of Plano, Texas; the Hopkins family of Fort Worth, Texas; the Murphy family of Moreno Valley, California; the James family of McKinney, Texas; and a host of similarly bereaved family and friends.