Obituary of Karissa Rose Yahn Huffmire

Karissa Rose Yahn Huffmire, 36-years old, died on Thursday, January 28, 2016, at her home in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, after her valiant fight with metastatic breast cancer. Through all her trials and tribulations, she always put Christ first, trying to find the good in every aspect of her life. Her strong will to live, unwavering faith in God, and love and prayers from family, friends, students and many, many supporters carried her through years of grueling treatments, without ever losing hope and conviction. Through her own struggle, she was unrelenting in sharing her testimony and her continued faith serves as an example to all of us. In everything she did and said, she walked by faith, not by sight. Karissa was married to Kenneth James Huffmire in 2004, son of Scott and Pamela Huffmire of Orlando, and started a beautiful family including two amazing little boys, Andrew James Huffmire, born in 2006, and Branson Fredrick Huffmire, born in 2007. Her family was front and foremost in her life and her love will live forever in the lives of her family and friends. In 2010, the Huffmire Family, Ken, Karissa, Drew and Branson moved to Murfreesboro, Tennessee to begin a new life adventure together. It was here that Karissa started working with Murfreesboro City Schools and specifically began as a teacher at Scales Elementary School. The Scales family have supported her through her challenges, as devoted friends and colleagues. Karissa was a faithful volunteer with World Outreach Church as the service coordinator for the special needs team and devoted her time to working with children having the services they needed to learn about the love of Jesus. Her passion was working with the Middle Tennessee Boxer Rescue and Schnauzer Love Rescue and there was always a foster puppy she was doting over and bringing into the house as a friend for Harley, the family boxer. Karissa was born on November 13, 1979, in Marathon, Florida to Danny and Christina Yahn and as the little sister to Keith Yahn, married to Jeff Grainger. As a child in the Florida Keys, Karissa’s energy and smile was contagious and her interests always revolved around her active nature. She grew up as a member of the Martin Luther Chapel Lutheran Church and loved being involved in the youth group, Lutheran Youth Fellowship. As her personality would suggest, Karissa loved music and loved to dance, spending her younger years in dance classes and competing in youth dance competitions. While a student at Marathon High School, Karissa was a cheerleader and all about school spirit! In 1998, Karissa moved to Orlando to attend the University of Central Florida, where she would later earn both her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Special Education. While attending UCF, she continued her love for dance as a member of the UCF Marching Knights dancers and found a new love in country music and pickup trucks…..possibly foreshadowing her coming life in Tennessee! After graduation from UCF, Karissa began her career in education at Milwee Middle School in Seminole County, Florida, where she began teaching Special Education classes and found her vocational calling in becoming an advocate and second mother for special-needs students. Funeral arrangements are being handled by Murfreesboro Funeral Home at 145 Innsbrooke Blvd, Murfreesboro, TN 37128. Visitation will be held on Tuesday, February 2 from 3:00pm – 5:00pm in the afternoon to be followed by a Celebration of Life at 5:00pm. A reception will be held at Scales Elementary School following the memorial service. The entire Yahn and Huffmire family is deeply grateful for the outpouring of love, prayers, and support in many heart-felt forms from too many people to name individually, but including: World Outreach Church, Murfreesboro City Schools, Tennessee Oncology, Caris Hospice, family, friends, neighbors, students and even random acts of kindness from total “strangers”. “In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count, it’s about how you spend your life in the years that you live.” Abraham Lincoln