The Dynamic Life of Karlye Kristine Thompson

Karlye was born on February 15, 1978, at 3:05 am weighing 4 pounds, 4 ounces.

Karlye was A FIGHTER. 

She was in the hospital for several months because of her weight. Thankfully her lungs were fully developed; however, she was placed in an isolate. I would come to the hospital unable to actually pick her up but stroke her little body through the portholes of the isolate. The nurses would give her instant meals though a small syringe.   

 In the next few months, she grew stronger. The nurses knitted her little blue booties and would put in a penny to make the scale heavier. When she reached 5 pounds, we were able to take her home. I dressed her in this tiny dress the size for a doll.  It was the first time I had actually held her. She was so small that her head was the size of an orange   As we drove home, I held her the whole way.

The one thing I remember so very clearly in those first days home is that I needed to feed her every 4 hours around the clock.  I was beyond exhausted as she cried and cried and didn’t want to be held. Instinctually I remember I held her close and would rock her saying, “You are going to have to learn to love me.”  Later we learned she had detachment disorder;  but praise God, she became accustomed to human touch and became a cuddle bug!

Karlye was FEARLESS.

I have one clear memory of her probably at the age of four or five.  We lived in the mountains of Montana. I looked out my kitchen window, and there she was - she had climbed up a 50-foot pine tree and was sitting in the branches!

As she grew, she loved to ski and would take on the moguls of the Rocky Mountains with great abandon. “Come on, Mom! Don’t be a chicken!”, she would shout as she would woosh by me. I can still see that little red ski suit bouncing down the rugged terrain. Her white-blond hair underneath her ski cap flying in the wind.

Karlye was COMMITTED.

When she had a commitment, she made up her mind and saw it through no matter what. When she was 5 years old, she had the lead singing role in the church Christmas play. That Sunday morning, I knew she wasn’t feeling well and wanted her to stay home. She was determined she would go and do her part. She sang and was the star of the show. The next morning, I took her to the doctor and found she had scarlet fever!

As a preteen she wanted a full-sized trampoline.  We talked about what she would be willing to do to get this most coveted prize. She decided not to watch TV for a year.  She kept her part and didn’t watch TV at all. I still have the contract written in her hand writing where we both signed and dated it.

As a young adult, Karlye joined the Army. I cried at the thought of it. “How can you join the Army? I can’t even get you to make your bed!” But she was determined.  She was assigned to the intelligence division. There she had many global adventures and many harrowing dangerous assignments, but she took them on.  Her awards and commendations are too numerous to list. The most impressive one was The Meritorious Service Medal. This is usually only given to officers, yet Karlye received this as a Sergeant.

She was committed to her service in the Army, to her obligations, and left a lasting impression on those who served alongside her.  After her death, her boss put in a request that the National Simulation Center at Fort Leavenworth where she worked most of her adult life  would be renamed in her honor. The Army denied the request; but it was a heartwarming honor of how her coworkers respected and appreciated her.  

Karlye was COMPASSIONATE.

She had a great love for animals and had many rescue dogs. Her favorites were a rottweiler she named Dr. Bombay and a pit bull named Brian. Both these dogs had been severely abused and could have been violent beasts. She loved them and cared for them the rest of their lives, and they became the sweetest animals. Karlye never had children of her own, but those two dogs were her babies.  It was a big blow to her when they died. When we interned her ashes we included both the dogs’ ashes. She would have liked that.

She had great compassion for her fellow soldiers.  Karlye was deployed many times all over the world; but I remember particularly during the Iraq War, she went to Baghdad over six times. She would volunteer to go for short deployments over the Christmas holidays so a fellow soldier could return home to be with their children and family.

Karlye was STRONG WILLED.

When she was going into into Kindergarten, I wanted to teach her to spell her name. She would have nothing to do with it. She wanted Miss Wong, who was to be her teacher, to teach her.

One summer she, her sister Marcy, and I spent part of the summer in California with my sister. We were shopping at a department store, and - I must admit - we were there a long, long time. She had had enough and laid on the floor in the middle of the store screaming at the top of her lungs, “WILL SOMEBODY PLEASE CLOSE THIS STORE!!!!!!”

Karlye was CREATIVE.

During Kindergarten, she began writing a series of stories called Willie and Lavonne. These little hand-written and color-illustrated sagas were about two worms and their various adventures.  We always loved reading her little booklets.

Another creative adaptation was her creation of the grasshopper hospital. One summer she would capture large flying grasshoppers with clothes pins. One day I went out on the deck and she had rows of these insects lined up on the floor of the deck with short dry pieces of spaghetti in their mouths. Those,  she explained, were their thermometers.

 One weekend we were camping at Glacier Park. As I was finishing up with dinner, Karlye who was 4 or 5 at the time, was standing on a cooler with a hairbrush as a microphone singing “Jesus Loves Me” at the top of her lungs entertaining the campsite.

 Karlye had a great sense of humor.  Her favorite movie was Johnny Dangerously. We would watch that and laugh until our sides ached. Throughout the years she would call me and say in her Johnny Dangerously voice, “Hiya, Ma!” starting our conversations with uproarious laughter.

 She was excellent in her IT work. Her coworkers nicknamed her Dr. Bussell. She would work until she could solve the problem in the computers.  Whenever I had any technology issues, I would call her for help.

 Karlye died March 20 ,2022.  She lived 44 years 1 month and 5 days with us. It was much too short for me, yet I know her days were numbered from the beginning of time. I am grateful to God for letting me share in her remarkable life. I miss her each and every minute and look forward to the day I will see her again in heaven.