Carrie Layne Ellenberg

Carrie Layne Ellenberg, age 27, passed away on Saturday, February 22, 2014, in Knoxville, TN. Carrie grew up in Atlanta, Ga. She attended the University of Tennessee - Knoxville and earned a Bachelor's degree in Political Science. She worked as a customer service representative in Knoxville. Carrie was very athletic as a child, loved being in the water and was a very good swimmer and diver. She and her brother both lived at the pool, and loved riding their bikes to the pool any day it wasn't raining. Carrie was highly intelligent and truly capable of excelling at anything about which she was passionate. This showed most in her love of horseback riding, music, and literature. She also loved politics, and held strong opinions, which she enjoyed defending in vigorous debates. She might be undeterred even if you were half as informed and already agreed. Carrie was always reading something, and had a remarkable ability to burn through and absorb books most people her age wouldn't touch. To stay up past "bedtime," her brother would turn the lights out and pull the blanket over his head with a portable TV underneath to watch Seinfeld and Cheers. Carrie would stay up to read Kurt Vonnegut. It was not in her nature to acknowledge that attribute. Unlike many in her generation, her love of reading was a quality that defined her. Carrie deeply loved animals. Her brother and other people close to her always thought a big part of the reason she loved animals so much is because the emotional aspect is unspoken. Similarly, she was like a lot of people who didn't have the easiest time expressing or verbalizing her emotions. Yet those close to her never doubted her gentle love for them. Carrie had a somewhat minimalist approach to things. She could see utility, but didn't care about frills or luxuries. She was a sincerely modest person in that way.