Kent-Marquette-Eaton County MI Archives Obituaries.....Currie, Christopher Byron September 7, 2015
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Carole Shealy 5bluelakes@gmail.com September 30, 2015, 10:57 pm

Coladaily.com September 28, 2015
Our beautiful son, brother, uncle, nephew, cousin and friend, Christopher Byron
Currie, (stage name 
Christopher Ryan Renni-Calliope) of Brooklyn NY, entered into eternal peace on
September 7, 2015. For 
reasons we will never know, he took his own life in his apartment on the third floor
of his charming 
brownstone. He had just turned 58 on August 27th. 

As a toddler, Chris was always in motion. As soon as he could stand, he was running,
arms flapping so fast 
that they are a blur in most photographs. He eventually grew out of the hummingbird
like behavior and 
into a timid curly haired boy and finally into a well-educated and kind man: tough
enough to beat cancer 
in July of 2015, but still as fragile inside as that hummingbird. 

Chris graduated from Ottawa Hills High School in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1977
where he discovered his 
talent and love of acting. He enjoyed high praise and adoration from his peers and
teachers. He even 
caught the attention of a reporter from The Grand Rapids Press who wrote about his
engaging and show 
stopping performances. 

His artistic talent with a brush was also recognized and he designed the covers of
playbills for the very 
plays he was in. After high school, he continued acting and singing in and around
Grand Rapids in venues 
such as Circle Theatre and in The Festival of Arts. 

In the early 80s, Christopher attended Grand Valley State College before
transferring to Michigan State 
University where he received his four-year degree in Computer Programming from the
College of 
Engineering. In the 90s, he earned his MA and then PhD in Cognitive Research
Psychology from the 
Experimental Psychology Program, Human Perception and Performance Group in the
Beckman Institute for 
Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. In
addition to his 
research involving eye-movements and scene perception, he was involved in a
Web-based project designed 
to provide laboratory experience to complement psychology lecture courses and to
educate the general 
public about sensation, perception and cognition. For more of his work google
“Change Blindness”.

As he moved through his 30s, he built a charming almost carefree personality: a
personality of humor, of 
fun, of hard work and goals and curiosity. He made lots of friends and girlfriends,
backpacked through 
Europe and presented several academic papers. In the mid-90s, he moved to New York
to take a position 
at Rutgers University where he developed computer programs in conjunction with
artificial intelligence in 
the visual attention laboratory. It was during this time that he was felt compelled
to reach back to 
something that had made him so happy and that was acting. He left a stable paying
job at Rutgers to 
pursue a career in acting; the sort of leap of faith most of us would never do. But
Chris was not only very 
smart; he was resourceful, ambitious and determined. Using his background in
Computer Programming 
and Mathematics, he became self employed working as a computer programming talent at
SEO, Marketing 
and Webmaster, Traffic (Web) Analytics and lead Science/Health Writer for businesses
such as Yellow Rat 
Bastard, a New York Retail clothing, footwear and accessories store, Bernstein
Medical - Center for Hair 
Restoration, Eva’s Village, and Shizuka New York Day Spa. 

He made some progress with acting and had been cast in several shows and films over
the years. He is 
remembered for his full dedication to acting. Colleagues, friends and coaches in New
York talk about his 
utter respect for the craft of acting and of his total support of his fellow actors.
Details can be found at 
www.imdb.com search Christopher Ryan Renni-Calliope.

Recently, as his health returned, he took steps to become more marketable by
updating his computer 
skills. In July, just after finding out that he was cancer free, he began taking
courses in Data Science, which 
is the management of large scale and complex data, through Johns Hopkins. He was
passing courses in, 
Google Analytics, Gathering data, R Programming, Statistical Inference, and
Regression Models. In addition, 
he began taking classes in writing, blogging and acting again (Google, Christopher
Skyi).

Christopher’s true nature was one of extreme sensitivity. His gentle soul was easily
and deeply wounded. 
Empathically, he was careful to never make anyone else feel bad about themselves. He
never made fun of 
people, not even strangers or spoke disparagingly about them, not even in private.
He was brilliant, but 
when speaking to others, he chose his words carefully to make others feel
comfortable. People who knew 
him admired how he was so curious about others and so determined to see the beauty.


Christopher was a very gifted person and he shared those gifts with his friends and
family through the 
years.  He was a blessing and delight to everyone who ever knew him. He had a
wonderful cerebral sense of 
humor and could crack up a room with his humorous observations of what everyone else
was thinking. His 
spirited advice and optimism about fighting and beating his other real disease,
cancer, was inspiring and 
brave. We are thankful we had him for the time we did. He has left a huge hole in
our hearts that belongs 
to him.

The family asks two things: Learn the warning signs of depression and know that it
is not “the blues” or an 
episode. It is a real disease. Second, Christopher’s family hopes that you will do
an unexpected and 
unsolicited act of kindness for a soul in pain, a trouble person, someone with sad
eyes, in Christopher’s 
name. 

Christopher is finally at rest, out of pain and he is at peace. Many years ago,
Christopher was baptized and 
later sat at the feet of a pastor and learned the teachings of Scripture. We believe
that only the Lord knows 
what happens in the final moments and knows the sufferings of his lambs. Beyond this
we cannot grasp. 
We simply hold Christopher and his memory close within us.

Christopher is preceded in death by his father, Bernard Currie in 1982 and his
Grandmother Viola Dorow in 
1987. He is survived by his mother Mrs. Dorothy Currie, of West Columbia, SC; his
sister Carole Currie 
(Danny) Shealy, of Lexington SC; Niece & nephews, Ross (Sandra) Shealy, USMC, of
Norman OK; Liesl (Sean) 
Pyle, Army Ret. of Dallas TX; and Jordan Shealy of Lexington, SC.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Chris’ name to The American Foundation
for Suicide 
Prevention at http://afsp.donordrive.com/campaign/wemissChris. Here you can also
read his full story 
about his undiagnosed depression. 

An additional donation page has been set up with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer
Center where 100% of 
donations go to research. Go to http://mskcc.convio.net/site/TR/Events/General?
pg=fund&fr_id=1580&pxfid=51614.

His obituary, video and tributes can be seen online at Piro Funeral Home, 
http://www.pirofuneralhome.com/obituaries/.

Christopher’s cremains will be taken to back to the city of his birth, Grand Rapids
Michigan and placed at 
Kent Memorial Gardens next to his father Bernard Currie. 


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