Carol Jean (“Chris” or “CJ”) Christoffel, 85, left her earthly body Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025, at her home in Fayetteville, AR. She was born June 13, 1940, a Thursday’s child who indeed had far to go.

She attended first grade at a one-room rural schoolhouse near her grandparents’ farm in western Cass County, MO, then moved to Belton and attended high school there until leaving to live with her grandmother in 1957 in Monett, MO. She graduated from Monett High School in 1958 and while there, became among the first high school students to build her own ham radio and earn an amateur radio license. Her accomplishment was featured in the Monett Times newspaper. She played the trumpet in both the Belton and Monett high school bands. She also was a member of the drum and bugle corps while living in Kansas City, MO. In 1958 and 1959 she attended Rolla School of Mines, transferring a year later to the University of Missouri in Columbia. She left the university after a year and went to work running the Cerebral Palsy Center in Kansas City. After several years there, she was recruited by IBM, and worked for the blue-chip company eventually as the Sr. VP of Security until retiring in 1985 at age 45, moving to a home on Beaver Lake in Lowell, AR. While there, she was a volunteer firefighter and fire district board member.

Chris was an athlete, playing AAU basketball in Kansas City, Kan., with Peck’s Good Girls, one of the Midwest’s best women’s teams in the early 1960s. She was a gifted intellectual with an IQ of 144. Her sage counsel and insightful leadership garnered great respect in the community. Chris was also a loving nurturer.  She cared for people as well as animals. At one time Chris had a menagerie of rescues living with her including: two dogs, three cats, one love bird, one rabbit, and one squirrel.

Chris was extremely active as a counselor and a voice in the LGBTQ+ community in Northwest Arkansas, Washington DC and New York City. Her dedication to diversity endeavors abounded: she was a member of GLAD, BGLAD, NOW, the Women’s Library in Fayetteville, the Alliance for Women’s Concerns, the Arkansas Women’s Project, and was a founding member of PFLAG in Northwest Arkansas. A strong activist, Chris provided dedicated service to the AIDS Task Force, the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT-UP!), HIV Arkansas, and the annual AIDS walk. Years before any other local information source was available, she created a one-stop collection of all LGBTQ+ and progressive news for Northwest Arkansas.  For over 20 years, the e-newsletter, affectionately called “The List,” shared national and regional news of interest to our community, as well as local events, happenings, meetings, and more.  Chris also had a light side to her. She was the founding member of the Lambda Squares in DC — the first gay square dance team to be recognized by the National Square Dance Association. She played the trumpet in the New York City Gay Marching Band and she was a founding member of the Northwest Arkansas Rowing Club. She was an avid women’s Arkansas Razorback basketball and volleyball team supporter. In 2013 she was honored for her extraordinary dedication and work as the Grand Marshall for the Northwest Arkansas Pride Parade. On September 23, 2019, Chris and Go Strealy were married by former Mayor Lioneld Jordan at Fayetteville City Hall.

She leaves her spouse, Martha Go Strealy, of the home; her first cousins, Pamla “PD” Frost and husband, John Frost, of Kansas City, MO and Steve Porter and wife, Dr. Vicki Porter, of Cleveland, MO; a nephew, Dr. Thomas W. Porter, of Columbia, MO; grandchildren Jennifer Shaver and husband, Jimmy Smith, of Merritt Island, FL; Dr. Tylir McKenzie and their partner, Joy Strohmaier, of Auburn, WA; children of Go, Temani Morrison and husband Michael, and grandsons Ryan and Cameron Blake Morrison of Siloam Springs, AR; Jokton Strealy and wife Angela and grandchildren Orazio, Arion and Fianna of Valdosta, GA; kittens Shadow, Fritzi and Cookie and a very large circle of dear friends. Donations may be made to PFLAG. A celebration of life is planned at a future date.

Cremation arrangements by Beard’s Funeral Chapel.