John Kyzer

John Kyzer, 36, of Gibson, passed away Monday, October 30, 2017. John was born on Monday, July 6, 1981 in North Little Rock, Arkansas. He was the beloved only child of Catherine Hickerson and Calvin Joe Kyzer. John grew up in the Runyan Acres area now known as Gibson. He went to the neighborhood schools and ended up buying a home in Gibson about a mile from his family home. He played baseball at Sylvan Hills Optimist in his early years. But, he developed interests in science, music, art, reading, and researching anything. His love of research, current events, science, guitar, and electronics grew. The musical artistic side of his warm and intelligent nature led to his love of playing guitar in a band and writing music with his dear friends as well as at least one goofy horror flick in his shed in the back yard with him playing “Roy”. Some of his friends called him Brother John. But, his great love of electronics lead to his career as a coder. He graduated from Westwood College Online with a BS in Game Development, which provided him with skills to be a .Net Developer. He knew several other languages and/or environments and worked with JSON, SQL, Microsoft SharePoint, just to name a few. He could have gone to work anywhere in the world of tech, but he loved both his family and many friends in the area and chose to stay near the people he loved. He went to work for Hewlett-Packard in Conway. He and his coworkers coded tools to help the call center handle trouble shooting. They also coded software tools to provide management of data and reports until they closed the call center. He briefly worked for the State of Arkansas, DFA and for Perfect Vision until his former manager from HP called him to come help the growing insurance company, Centene where he worked until his death on Monday. John was preceded in death by the following family members: His Father, Joe Kyzer; Grandfather, Harvey Hickerson; Aunt Sarah Hickerson Kersey Morton; Grandfather, JL “Tub” Kyzer; Grandmother, Sue Cross Kyzer; Grandmother, Mabel Musgrove Hickerson; and, Aunt Brenda Kyzer Zahari. John is survived by: Mother, Catherine Hickerson, of Gibson, Girlfriend, Alisha Cook of Gibson, Aunt Martha, Uncle Ray, and cousin Daniel Peurifoy of Maumelle; cousin Brooke Kersey and her children Zach and Sarah Walter of Lonoke; cousins Neal and Summer Kersey and children Sydney & Olivia of North Little Rock; Uncle Doug, Aunt Robin and cousins Jacob & Lucas of Conway; Uncle Leslie Kyzer and Uncle John and cousins Celia & Jarrod Zahari of Gravel Ridge; many other extended family members and dear, lifelong friends as well as coworkers. His mother wishes to extend her gratitude to his coworkers at Centene that stayed with her at the emergency room until and after her sister and family could be there. She also wants to thank the Baptist Hospital ER staff that tried to save him and supported her through the notification. In lieu of flowers, friends/family can donate to the American Heart Association or House of Melody Education. John Kyzer’s family and friends will hold a celebration of his life at House of Melody at 17822 Batesville Pike, Gibson (North Little Rock), AR from 6-8 p.m. on Friday, November 3, 2017. It will be like an “open mic night” with his band and fellow musicians offering their musical and/or vocal tributes. Anyone who wishes to share story of John is invited to the “mic” as well. The family will have a private burial of his ashes at Rest Hills later.