Linda Lillian Honaker

Linda Lillian Lamons Honaker passed away surrounded by the family she spent her whole life gathering close.

Linda was born in Johnson City, Tennessee, and raised in a hand-built "gingerbread" house complete with a creek, horse barn, and lots of apple trees. Her parents raised her and her sister Betsy on two non-negotiables: tell the truth, and love to learn. The family walked to the public library every week, and Linda read her way straight through the card catalog. Growing up, she was a proud Girl Scout and Central Church of Christ member. She attended Science Hill High School and graduated from East Tennessee State University, where she earned Bachelor of Science and Master's degrees in Library Science. It was a fitting education for a woman who would go on to spend her career opening books, and doors, for children.

As a junior at ETSU, Linda first noticed a young man named John tossing an apple around the student union in his football letter jacket. He was, she thought, awfully handsome. They married on January 6, 1962, and what followed was a lifetime of love and partnership. As a young military wife, Linda moved with John from post to post: Fort Benning, Georgia, Fort Rucker, Alabama, Fort Wolters, Texas, and back to Johnson City, Tennessee, while he served tours in Korea and Vietnam. She raised their two daughters, Wrenn and Laura, with the help of her parents and in-laws while he was overseas. When John was honorably discharged, they settled in Texas, where he began his career as a Bell Helicopter test pilot, work that kept him traveling the world and kept Linda, once again, the steady center the family could always count on.

In 1967, Linda was hired as the only librarian for the entire Hurst-Euless-Bedford school district, working her way up through administrative roles until she retired in 2001 as Director of Library, Media and Materials. Among her many honors, the one she was proudest of was the Texas Library Association's Distinguished Service Award for School Administrators, awarded in 2001. She also served for years as the district's Spelling Bee coordinator and chief pronouncer for the Fort Worth Star Telegram Bee. Along with colleagues, she created HEB's Battle of the Books competition, built to send children digging deeper into literature. Her devotion to children extended well beyond the library. She was a board member for United Way and a lifetime member of the PTA. Her devotion to early childhood education was so well known that a preschool for children in need, the Linda Kay Center in Hurst, Texas, was named in her honor.

Along with John, Linda’s priorities were Wrenn, Laura, and her grandchildren. She did not miss anything; dance recitals, band concerts, graduations, the day her daughter Wrenn was sworn in at the Supreme Court, or the annual setup for Laura’s gifted and talented classroom. When her first great-grandchild turned one, she and John drove twelve hours so they could be there to celebrate. She and John also showed up for friends and neighbors, cheering on students at Dragon games, supporting their fundraisers, and reading books alongside them as though they were their own.

Linda was happiest surrounded by family; trips to Fossil Rim with all five grandchildren, reunions in the mountains and on the coast, Thanksgivings that moved from city to city. For Linda, the destination mattered far less than getting everyone in one place. She welcomed every new person who joined the family with open arms, sons-in-law and grandsons-in-law, treating them as her own. Even the family dogs got their own gifts and check-ins from her. The great-grandchildren knew her for the surprises she sent for every holiday, and everyone who spent time with Linda grew up trying to be a little more like her: kind, strong, and generous.

Though family mattered most to her, Linda built community everywhere she went: through her church, Grapevine Church of Christ, where she gave her time to the annual coat drive and programs supporting children in Nicaragua and Ukraine; through the Legacy Church of Christ Quilters, where she made a countless quilts and lifelong friends; and to her neighbors who meant so much to her.

Giving was Linda's default setting; helping a grandchild study for a spelling test, buying supplies for a classroom of kids she'd never meet, calling an old friend just because it had been a while. Her house was perpetually full of things bound for donation.

Of everything Linda gave her family, books may be what stuck the most. Generations of her family remember the Penny-a-Page challenge, an incentive that cost Linda plenty of pennies and instilled in her grandchildren a lifelong love of reading. She read at her kitchen table, read grandchildren to sleep, and told stories for hours on end. It's no accident that every one of her descendants is a reader. That was Linda. That same love of words followed her into her own time, too: she traveled to Europe through a lifelong-learners program, kept up with crossword puzzles and current events, and was a devoted letter writer and used correspondence to check on friends.

In her last few years, her constant companion was Charlie, a rescue dog Laura helped bring home from Mexico. Charlie became something like a child to Linda and John, fiercely loyal, and stayed close by her side through the difficult final stretch.

Above all, Linda was defined by the values her own parents gave her and that she handed down through four generations: honesty, kindness, hard work, good manners, and a love of learning so deep it became the family's shared language.

In her final days, Linda's family stayed with her, surrounding her and sharing stories and memories of her life right up until the end, and they believe that she heard every word of it.

She was preceded in death by her parents, James Lamons and Inez Andregg Lamons; her in-laws, Keith Honaker and William Guthrie Honaker; her sister-in-law, Sandy Rogers; and her brothers-in-law, Errol "Buck" Honaker, Sam North, and Jeffrey Honaker.

She is survived by her husband of 64 years, John David Honaker; her sister, Betsy North; her daughters, Wrenn Chais (Bill Chais) of Los Angeles and Laura Lane (Mike Lane) of San Carlos, Mexico; her five grandchildren, Carson Sartain (Matt Sartain), Madeline Chais (Chad Musselman), Chloe Chais (Jordan Whaley), Peyton Lane (Benjamin Hodson), and Jonathan Chais; her four great-grandchildren, Jet Sartain, Andre Whaley, Beck Sartain, and Macklin Whaley; her sisters-in-law, Cathy Morton and Harriett Honaker; her brother-in-law, Ben Morton; and a host of adoring nieces and nephews.

In lieu of flowers, Linda's family asks that you follow her example of giving by making donations to the Grapevine Church of Christ for three of her favorite programs. The annual Coat Drive, Kingdom Kids Nicaragua Project, or Ukraine Humanitarian Relief. Checks can be mailed to Grapevine Church of Christ, 525 Park Blvd, Grapevine, TX 76051, and donations can be made online at the link listed below in the Charities section.

Thank you for continuing her legacy.