Claudia Karen Tynes, 1947-2025

Claudia Karen Tynes, 1947-2025

Claudia Karen Tynes, 1947-2025

Karen Tynes passed away in Shoreline, Washington, on October 9, 2025, after a long illness and amid much love and care. She grew up in Jackson, Mississippi, the daughter of Willie and Hazel Blackwell, and graduated with a degree in fine art from Millsaps College, where she met her husband, Guy Allan Tynes, when they were members of the Millsaps Players theater company. They married and moved to Memphis, Tennessee, where they raised their son, John.

Karen was a brilliant, driven, and compassionate woman who studied to become first an analytical chemist and later a computer programmer across her long career in Memphis. She loved to sing in her church choirs, to laugh and tell stories, and to spend time with family, friends, and a laudable dynasty of cats. She always saw the good in people and her Southern hospitality pulled people together, making her a cherished friend to many.

She and her husband retired to Shoreline in 2010 to be near their son and his family and especially their grandchild, Viv, whom they adored and helped raise as the doting and supportive grandparents every child should have

Karen was a beloved member of St. Dunstan’s Episcopal Church in Shoreline, where she helped launch their hosting space for tent encampments in 2011 and then their Tuesday community dinners in 2012, which now serve 2,000 meals every month. She served as Senior Warden and Vestry Member to lead and support church programs; led the Altar Guild and Prayer Team; worked in the St. Agnes Guild, Hospitality Team, and Bible Studies; and was also an usher. She took the lead in decorating the church for all the holidays, ordering flowers and greenery and assembling volunteers. During the pandemic, she collected fabric donations and organized the production of hundreds of masks. For six years, she made biweekly food-bank deliveries to Camp United We Stand.

She made similar investments of time and compassion for the community of Calvary Episcopal Church during her many years in Memphis. There she worked in the soup kitchen, served in the Altar Guild, volunteered in their homeless outreach programs, and received the Calvary Medal for her many contributions, including writing software to organize the music library. Through her work at Calvary, she became an annual visitor for many years to the Red Shirt Table community in the Pine Ridge Lakota Reservation of South Dakota, leading youth groups and supporting community projects.

Karen was beloved by family and friends in Memphis, Shoreline, the Red Shirt Table community, and all who knew and loved her over the years. She was both loving and outspoken, a born leader who was unafraid to speak truth to power and to take swift action for the greater good. She also loved to laugh, to watch and read tales of science fiction and fantasy, and to visit Richmond Beach with her husband to watch the waves. Her favorite novel was The Martian by Andy Weir, about an unstoppable and pragmatic problem-solver much like herself. Were Karen stranded on Mars, she would immediately launch an outreach program for space travelers in need and her light would be a beacon to the lost. She would surely feed them, too.

Karen is preceded in death by her husband, Guy Allan Tynes, as well as her brother, Reggie Blackwell, and her niece Lacey Sanders. She is survived by her son John, his wife, Jennifer, and their child, Viv; sister Lynn Sanders; sister-in-law Betty Adamson and her husband, Dave Adamson; sister-in-law LeDhu Tynes; and many nephews and nieces and their families including Tracy Anderson, Matt Sanders, Jeff Tynes, David Tynes, Tammy Gay, Connie Young, William Blackwell, and David Blackwell.

St. Dunstan’s Episcopal Church will host a memorial service for Karen on Saturday, December 13, 2025 at 11am.