Karen Elizabeth Bryan

Karen Elizabeth Bryan April 18, 1959 – October 8, 2016 Karen Elizabeth Nolte Bryan of Cross Plains, Tennessee, previously of Waco, Texas, passed away early on the morning of October 8, 2016, at Skyline Alive Hospice in Madison, Tennessee, after a long battle with breast cancer. Her funeral will be 10:30 a.m., Thursday, October 13, at Wilkirson-Hatch-Bailey Funeral Home Garden Room. Burial will follow at 3:30 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 13, at Oak Knoll Cemetery in Bellville, Texas, in the Nolte Family Plot. Karen was born on April 18, 1959, at the Cannon Air Force Base hospital near Clovis, New Mexico, to Clarence and Penelope Saunders Nolte. She grew up and attended schools in Wichita Falls and Robinson, Texas. She and Tommie Gilliam of Waco were married in 1983, and they had three children, Jennifer, David A. and Candice Gilliam. Karen was rewarded with five grandsons and three step grandchildren. After divorce, Karen worked at several stores in Waco as a clerk/checker. Later she met and dated Gary Bryan, and they were married in August 2003 in Waco. Shortly thereafter, Gary was offered a better job as an auto mechanic in Tennessee, so they moved and were making their home in Cross Plains, Tennessee. Preceding Karen in death were her grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. W.C. Nolte of Bellville and Mr. and Mrs. W.C. Saunders of Lewisville, Texas; her mother, Penelope Nolte of Robinson; her sister, Ann Marie Taubert of Lufkin, Texas; five aunts and five uncles; and three cousins. She is survived by her husband, Gary, and her step-daughter, Aliya Smith, and step-son, Allen Muriel; her father, C.W. Nolte, Sr., of Robinson; two brothers, C.W. Nolte, Jr., and wife, Rebecca, of Pflugerville, Texas, and Charles Nolte of Bowie, Texas; her children, Jennifer Nolte and son, Freddy, of Waco, David A. Gilliam, and wife, Brandy, and son, TJ, of Temple, and Candice R. Lopez and husband, Renee Lopez, and sons, Joey, Tommy, Leo, and step-son, of McAllen, Texas; four nieces and one nephew; and other relatives and friends. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests that any donation be sent to your nearest cancer research center or to your local Red Cross. The family invites you to leave a message or memory on our “Tribute Wall” at www.WHBfamily.com.