Christine E. Begyn, 51, Andalusia, IL passed away on Monday, July 10, 2023 at her home surrounded by her family and under the care of hospice. There will be a visitation from 4-7:00 PM on Thursday, July 20, 2023 at Wheelan-Pressly Funeral Home and Crematory, Milan. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Christine Begyn Trust Fund, to benefit her children.

Christine Elizabeth Begyn was born on September 23, 1971 in Chicago, IL. Three weeks later, she was adopted by Richard and Mary Clarke, and brought home to join David and Cathy. The Chicago suburbs was her home for her growing up years. She graduated from Amarillo High School, and then went to the University of New Mexico in Las Cruces, NM, where she majored in business. After transferring to Texas A&M, she received her Bachelor's degree in Business and Marketing. This was a perfect fit for Chris. As a child, her favorite pastime was playing "office", with her typewriter, stapler, files, and rubber stamps.

After graduation from college, she worked for Mr. Payroll, a check cashing company out of Dallas-Ft Worth, setting up new locations across the Southwest. Crohn's disease brought her to Davenport, IA, where spent the next 15 years as office manager for the family electrical contracting company. During that time, she and Jesse Begyn married, and had 3 beautiful children – Evan, and the twins, Briece and Austin. These children have always been her joy in life.

From the fall of 2015 to present, Chris battled anal and breast cancer, and underwent numerous surgeries and treatments. During that time, Chris became a single mom and continued working full-time and caring for her children.

In 2020, the breast cancer had metastasized in her bone marrow. Through all of these years, Christine attended every special event that she could get to in support of her children. She finally had to stop working in April, 2022, where she was the Rock Island County Payroll Administrator.

Chris lived life fully and enjoyed many things. Always her children were her #1 joy, but the Cubs came in second. She loved traveling, shopping, HGTV, crafting, and hanging out with friends.

Left to cherish her memory are her 3 children, who gave her the will to continue her brave struggle with cancer over the years. Evan is working as a plumber in the Quad Cities, Briece will be attending North Carolina State University in the fall, pursuing a career in biomedical engineering, and Austin will be attending the University of Iowa, majoring in Actuarial Science. Chris is also survived by her mother and stepfather, Mary and Don Timmermann of Blue Grass, IA, her father and his wife, Richard and Karen Clarke, of Inverness, IL, her sister and brother-in-law, Cathy Clarke and Mark Surowiak of Malvern PA, her brother and sister-in-law, David and Becky Clarke of Leland, NC, stepsister Katie Fish, stepbrother Kim Turner, aunt and uncle Barb and Walter Jones of Texas, and several nieces, nephews, cousins, and many friends.