Linda "Joy" Latimer

Linda “Joy” Latimer, age 84 of Burleson, peacefully passed away surrounded by family

on April 4, 2026. Born April 24, 1941, in Brownwood, Texas to Walter and Laura Lee

Tongate.

Joy was richly blessed to be raised outside of Brownwood on a 160-acre farm in the

small town of Zephyr, TX where she held numerous precious memories and

recollections of learning how to work hard, play hard and enjoy having a simple life.

She certainly learned many solid basics of life such as digging vegetables out of the

garden in preparation for dinner, raising the chickens for the eggs and other meals. She

also cherished running free all over the farm and playing ball with her older brother, as

well as watching her older sister drive the family tractor as her father worked the fields.

When Joy was around 12, her family moved to the vibrant and exciting growing town of

Fort Worth where she attended Irma Marsh Middle School, followed by Castleberry High

School. During her school years, Joy excelled at sports and quickly made lots of friends

and easily made the cheerleading squad. At the age of 13, even though she was active

in basketball, cheerleading and her studies, her mother said “Joy, you’ve got to get a

job”. So, she went to the local drive-in called The Ice Box, where unbeknownst to her

would be the biggest blessing of her life. At The Ice Box is where she met the love of

her life, Coy Lee Latimer. Coy would stay at the drive-in until Joy got off work so he

could take her home at 11:00 o’clock at night so she wouldn’t have to walk two miles

home.

On November 15, 1957, and at the young ages of 16 and 18, Coy and Joy were married

with his father, Rev. Coy Latimer officiating their wedding ceremony. This was the

beginning of nearly seven decades of love, laughter, hard work, memories, growing

families, traveling, business and many other adventures.

Though Joy’s main passion was doing anything with Coy, she still had the burning

desire to get outside and play sports. After having three beautiful daughters, Joy signed

up for a ladies’ softball team which through tons of practice and fun went on to win a

state championship with the Dodge Darts. She was an incredible third baseman! She

also began riding motorcycles, playing volleyball and bowling when the girls were

young, bowling for many years reaching professional status and steadily carrying over a

200 average. After many years, Joy decided to hang up her bowling balls and take up

golfing. Within one year, Joy was in the top 90 lady golfers in the state.

Aside from her sporting talents, Joy stood right by Coy’s side starting several successful

businesses with the jewelry business topping them all. Originating as “The Gold Mine”

in the old trophy shop building, Joy began selling solid gold jewelry in ways the public

had never experienced before, by the weight. This concept exploded and they would

have customers stacked several levels deep at Christmas time. As gold trends

diminished and silver became so popular, they changed the business name to “The

Silver Mine” and did extremely well with it also. The Silver Mine became quite a staple

in the main exhibit hall at the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo for 24 years. Joy

created spectacular, unique and one-of-a-kind pieces of jewelry. She was just as

creative and artistic as anyone as could be.

Joy is preceded in death by her devoted husband Coy, who passed away on October 9,

2025. Also were her parents, sister Jimma Pierce and numerous other family members

and friends.

She is survived by three daughters, Connie Tatom (Don), Kelly Tice (Larry) and Shana

Allen (Ross); 8 grandchildren; 12 great-grandchildren; 3 great great-grandchildren;

brother Doug Tongate; and brother-in-law Pete Latimer (Shelly). Many nieces, nephews

and friends also survive and will fondly cherish the memories of our precious Joy.

Services will be held at Lucas Funeral Home Chapel, Burleson on April 8, 2026 at 12:00

p.m. with burial to follow in Burleson Memorial Cemetery.