Linda Huddleston, “Goldie”, Mom, Meme, and the sunshine of her beloved husband of 56 years, went peacefully home to Jesus on Tuesday, September 20th, 2022. Graveside services will be at 10:00 A.M. Saturday, September 24, 2022 at Dreamland Cemetery. Memorial services will follow at 11:00 A.M. at the Canyon First Assembly of God Church with Rev. Billy D. Nickell, officiating. The family will receive friends on Friday, September 23 at the Canyon First Assembly of God Church from 5:00 to 7:00 P.M.
Linda Gail Fitzgerald was born in Brownfield, Texas to John and Dillie Fitzgerald on January 24, 1942, the youngest of 5 children. She grew up in Plains, Texas, as a rancher’s daughter and a beloved baby sister. She’d feed the cows with her Daddy, help her mama make breakfast for the cowboys, then get out there alongside them to brand the cows. She contracted rheumatic fever as a child and was bedridden for a year; but her parents and the Lord were faithful through that time, and she recovered. By the time she hit high school, she was able to run track, cheerlead, and perform in plays. She was really good at basketball because she was short and fast, but her favorite was volleyball, often fondly wishing she could still get out on the court and play.
Upon graduating, she enrolled in beauty school and became a sought-after beautician for different seasons of her adult life.
One day she pulled up alongside a handsome young man she had known in high school while both were out driving their white ’62 Chevrolet SS Impalas. That moment at the only stoplight in Plains led to a date to see Fats Domino in August 1963 and they quickly fell in love, marrying on November 17th, 1963. She never left his side, fulfilling her life’s calling as a Proverbs 31 woman, being the most beautifully hearted helpmate to Cordell all of his days.
The strength of the Lord and the joy of His faithfulness that she learned as a child carried her through several hard seasons. When her husband joined the army and became concerningly ill thousands of miles away, she clung to the Lord. When he returned and they tried to have a child for several years only to be met with disappointments, she clung to the Lord. When she had to leave her hometown and family and move to Canyon for her husband’s new job in the early 1970’s, she clung to the Lord.
When the Lord brought the possibility of adoption into their lives, she rejoiced at the chance to further fulfill her life’s calling, as a mother, welcoming first Kason Cordell and then Jason Bryan. When she adopted each of these two babies, there was never a question from the moment she held them that they were her sons, completely giving them the unconditional love of a mother, and teaching them the unquestionable love of The Father.
She poured all of her love and time and energy into being the wife and mother to her husband and boys. That’s when she really started to shine in her gifts as she served the Lord in her hospitality. She could cook the best – everything – and very often did, for her boys, for their friends and football players, for her church, Canyon First Assembly of God, where she served faithfully, for visiting missionaries and evangelists, for extended family, and for an abundance of friends. There weren’t many weddings or showers during those years that didn’t have a Linda Huddleston cake involved somewhere as she excelled at creating masterpieces.
Through it all, though, she exuded JOY. She giggled like a schoolgirl all of her life when she got tickled, often sending those around her to laugh until they cried. There were many late nights with her two older sisters where the rest of the family fell asleep hearing them giggle about something.
And then the days started coming where she finally got her girls. Her sons married precious Christian women and they began having granddaughters that Linda reveled in spoiling and dressing up and taking shopping and just playing all things “girl” with. She was tickled, though, when the grandsons also started coming and their home was once again filled with the laughter and raucousness of boys.
Through it all, she found joy and the joy of the Lord truly was her strength. And from that place, she was able to give joy. SO much of it. And she will be so missed.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Cordell, her parents, John Edward Fitzgerald, Jr. and Dillie Odessa Fitzgerald; her brothers, Johnnie Fitzgerald and Melvin Fitzgerald; a nephew, Mike Loe. and nieces, Dianne Fitzgerald and Lynn Winn.
She is survived by son, Kason Huddleston and his wife April of Rockwall, their children Rachel McShane and husband Brian, Elizabeth, and Nathan; son, Jason Huddleston and his wife Nicole of Perryton, their children Sarah, JB, Megan, and Canon; her sisters, Winnell Loe and Martha Palmer, and many nieces, nephews, and extended family. She was a golden sunshine to all of them.