Karen was born May 6, 1948 in McKeesport, Pennsylvania to George and Etha Brown. She moved with her family as a young girl to Venice Florida. While working as an X-Ray tech she met and married the love of her life, Tom. Tom and Karen were married on November 7, 1969 and were married 48 years. In 1981 Tom, Karen and the girls moved to Gray, Tennessee where she resided until her passing.
A faithful member of Kingsport Church of Christ, Karen was a devoted wife, loving mother, and adored grandmother, but above all else a working and tireless faithful servant of God. In countless and quiet ways she devoted every day to serving others. Because of her love and unwavering devotion for the Lord, she laid up for herself many treasures in heaven by faithfully serving her husband, daughters, 5 beloved grandchildren, her church, and especially her bible class students. God granted her abundant talents enabling her to leave behind a firm foundation on which many will be able to stand for generations to come and for that we will all be eternally grateful.
Karen was preceded in death by her parents, George and Etha Brown and brother Reed Brown. Survivors include, her husband Tom Byler, Tim and Kimberly (Byler) Wilson of Zionsville, Indiana, Russ and Michelle (Byler) Wallace of Kingsport, TN, 5 grandchildren, Lydia, Thomas and Caroline Wilson and Samantha and Taylor Wallace, brother and sister in law Bob and Carolyn Brown, Mt. Juliet TN, mother in law Nancy Byler, Belleville Pennsylvania, other brothers and sister in laws and a cherished niece and nephews.
The family would like to extend a special thank you to the brothers and sisters of Kingsport for their numerous acts of service to Karen and Tom over the past several months. They would also like to thank all the nurses at the Kingsport Wellness Cancer Institute, the Holston Valley W3 nurses and hospice nurses. The family requests that any gifts made in memory of Karen be made to the Wellmont Patient Care Assistance fund found online at https://www.balladhealth.org/foundation/donate-online
The family will receive friends on Saturday, March 10, 2018 from 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm, in the chapel of East Lawn Funeral Home. Funeral services will be held at 2:00 pm immediately following the visitation with Tom Kinzel and Phillip Mullins officiating. Interment services will be held following the service at 3:00 pm at East Lawn Memorial Park. Serving as pallbearers will be Karen’s family and friends.
Online condolences may be made to the family at www.eastlawnkingsport.com. East Lawn Funeral Home and Memorial Park has the honor of serving the family.
