Caryn Michele Knight

Caryn Michele Knight was an amazing woman of God whose love for her family, friends and coworkers was unwavering. She loved people – getting to know them, exchanging stories, sharing a cup of coffee. By far, her three most favorite people were her children Lacey and Gregory and her precious granddaughter, Zoe, who she loved to the moon and back. She treasured every moment spent with them.

Caryn was born at the Long Beach Naval Hospital in Long Beach, CA on December 9, 1967. Always ready for the next challenge, Caryn embraced adventure and loved living life to the fullest each day. She was a gifted speaker, writer and leader. It was important to her to be a leader, not a boss, so she would go to leadership conferences to learn whenever she could. In addition to graduating from Centralia High School and then Centralia College with her AA, Caryn earned her BA in 2017 from Whitworth University. Her many jobs included mother, homemaker, motivational speaker and funeral director, to name just a few. These positions took her to Washington, California, Oklahoma and Oregon. Any spare time she could find would be spent reading, writing, baking, taking walks, riding bikes and watching her shows. Walking on the beach always brought her joy.

Caryn knew she had a call on her life and lived in cognizance of it. A believer in the miraculous, she proudly proclaimed healing even as cancer was found, going into remission three years in a row.

Recognizing that every day was a gift, Caryn strove to live life as a lover not a judger and practiced being real and authentic. She refused to stop fighting, not because she was afraid to die but because she had so very much more she wanted to accomplish. On September 16, 2019, Caryn wrote a message to us all in her blog:

“Can I please advise you? Do not wait. Don’t wait to embrace every nano-second. Write the letter, make the phone calls, kiss the kids, get the plane tickets, eat dessert, text the cartwheel emoji, read the book, stand in the bleachers and act crazy, go to church, say “thank you” way more often and buy the blonde wig if you want.” You can find more of Caryn’s amazing writings at https://www.linkedin.com/today/author/caryn-m-knight-499538122

Caryn passed away peacefully on June 18, 2021. Holding her daughter’s hand on earth, she reached out and went into her beloved mother’s arms in Heaven. She is now sitting at the feet of her beloved Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Caryn was preceded in death by her mother, Dorothy Ruth Knight, and her auntie, Lesly Guerrero. She will be missed by her father, Michael Allan Knight (Cherry), sisters Kristine Brummer and Susan Johnson, daughter Lacey Wambalaba, son Gregory Mitchell (Kristina), granddaughter Zoe Wambalaba, Grandpa Silas and [Mary] Dottie Guy, extended family and friends and co-workers that are too numerous to count.

Caryn will be remembered as a vibrant human being who, while not perfect, was real. She loved God and her “peeps”. Her life had many different chapters in it and she touched everyone she met along the way. Caryn’s smile lit up a room and the sparkle in her eyes drew you in.

Caryn loved greatly and was greatly loved. She will be greatly missed.