Linda Sue Payne Hunt joined the choir of angels Aug. 11, 2015. Funeral services will be the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Joseph City chapel at 11 a.m., on Saturday, Aug. 22, with a viewing at 9:30 a.m.
Linda was born to Ed and Jean Payne on Sept. 23, 1945, and grew up amidst loving grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins in a close-knit family and community. She attended Virden School until it closed after her 8th grade year. She was the salutatorian at Duncan High School, where she played volleyball and tennis and performed in many musical ensembles and choirs. She was a superb pianist. She won many 4-H awards for cooking, sewing, and presenting during her teen years.
Linda studied home economics education at Brigham Young University and taught in Tooele, Utah, and Spanish Fork, Utah, before she married and began raising her children. She met Dennis Hunt during her last semester at BYU. They were sealed for time and eternity in the Mesa temple in 1968. She lived in California and Mesa while her husband attended graduate school. They moved to Joseph City in 1975.
Family, church, education and music were Linda’s main passions in life. She served on the Joseph City School Board before becoming a teacher at Joseph City Elementary School. She was a gifted and dedicated teacher with a knack for organizing. Her students’ musical performances were always popular and polished. She served in many leadership callings in her church and played the organ for 31 years. Linda and her husband served a mission in Farmington, N.M., while Linda was undergoing chemotherapy treatments.
Linda has been an example of courage, compassion, commitment and faith to all who knew her. She always wanted to leave everything and everyone “better than it was.” She instilled her values and beliefs in the hearts and lives of her spouse, eight children (two deceased), 27 grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren, and numerous students, friends and acquaintances.
Norvel Owens Mortuary of Flagstaff was in charge of the arrangements.
