Christopher James Carroll

Christopher James Carroll left his broken and battered body behind on December 26, 2025 to join his Savior in heaven where he now enjoys a perfect body with no pain.

Chris was born on September 29, 1963 in Minneapolis, Minnesota the third child of Jim and Debbie Carroll. From the beginning of his life, his extraordinariness was apparent. Instead of speaking his first word, Chris, in typical fashion, blurted out an entire sentence. All of his life, he was a quiet man, but when he had something to say, it was usually profound.

He started working at UPS as a pre-loader in 1983 and later was a driver for seven years. One night in October, 1983, he met Shannon. He went home and told his brother that he had met the girl he was going to marry. He asked her to marry him two weeks later, and she said, “Yes! I thought you would never ask!” They married on June 2, 1984 and were blessed with 42 years of the greatest kind of love – the love that prevails through all the hard times and makes you hold on for dear life.

They were blessed with their daughter, Lauren Elizabeth, born a month and three days before their first anniversary, and 23 months later, they were blessed with their son, Christopher Hoss. Chris was so proud of Lauren and Hoss and always managed to work how smart and funny they are into a conversation.

At the age of 27, Chris and Shannon decided to return to college. Chris earned his Associate Degree in English at Amarillo College, where he was the Outstanding English Major and graduated with the distinction of Highest Honors. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science at West Texas A&M University, where he graduated Summa cum laude and was offered a law-school scholarship to Texas Tech University. After some thought, he declined and instead majored in philosophy because it was the highest and purist major in academia.

He joined the faculty at Borger High School in 1998 where he taught English and had great success with students passing the AP exam for college credit. Later, he facilitated the dual-credit classes and worked with Shannon. This partnership was magical, and his students were so blessed to work with him at the college level where they benefited from his knowledge of literature, history, and philosophy. If you knew Chris, you knew he was a sucker for a good conspiracy, and he often talked about things going on in the world with his students and family.

Chris also coached wrestling and sent boys to the state tournament every year where they competed admirably against wrestlers from 5 and 6A high schools. He coached cross country with Coach Lesley Young, and they often sent runners to State as well. Chris coached Ready Writing within Academic UIL. Coach Carroll had an athletic state champion wrestler and an academic state champion Ready Writer, a feat almost never matched by coaches.

Chris was an excellent cook and loved to feed people, especially with big meals during the holidays. He was an expert wood turner and turned over a thousand unique, individual bowls on his lathe. He renovated every square inch of their property on Cedar Street, and he built Shannon amazing, customized furniture for her craft room and furniture for the kids.

Chris is preceded in death by his father, James, and his brother, Mark along with his father-in-law Ed Hagan and mother-in-law Margaret Flint Hagan.

He is survived by his wife, Shannon Hagan Carroll, his daughter, Lauren Krup and her husband Andrew; his son Hoss and his wife Kendall and their two boys, Forrest and Gus; his mother Debra Carroll; sister Rise Wofford; brother Tim and his partner Becky; sisters-in-law Starlite Folley and husband Tim ; Alice Hagan; and his brother-in-law Ed “Bub” Hagan and his wife Lucy along with nieces, nephews, cousins and cats.

In lieu of flowers, please consider contributing to a scholarship honoring Chris for Borger High School students attending Frank Phillips College.

The family will receive guests at the Frank Phillips College on Tuesday, December 30 from 6:00 to 8:00 pm.

The funeral service will be at Faith Covenant Church in Borger on December 31 at 10:00 am. We encourage all of his students, coworkers, and friends to join the family in celebrating Chris’s life and the mark he has left on the world.

To honor Chris’s memory, grab a Lifesaver-peppermint because he always had one to give.