Linda Sue Lantzy Junkin

Linda Lantzy Junkin, born Linda Sue Lantzy on March 18, 1948, in Vero Beach, FL. passed away on July 7, 2024.

She grew up in College Park and Jonesboro, Georgia, graduating from Jonesboro High School and attending the University of Georgia in Music Therapy. She was one of the two first Music Therapist to graduate from the University of Georgia. Upon graduating she moved to Tuscaloosa, AL to work for the VA Hospital in Tuscaloosa. Being a coloratura Soprano, she sang with many groups including the Tuscaloosa Community Singers. During a joint concert with the University of Alabama Singers, the University of Alabama Choral Union, and the Birmingham Philharmonic Orchestra, she met her future husband and life mate. They were married in June of 1973 and spent the next fifty-one years together. During that time, she worked fourteen years for the VA, as a part time substitute teacher, and an office worker for an accountant.

She began life as a Methodist where she sang in both the youth and adult choirs. In Tuscaloosa, she taught a Sunday School class to the Mentally Challenged students from the Partlow State School in Tuscaloosa. Most people in the church called the students, most of which were older than Linda, Linda’s kids. She was also a youth counselor for the Junior High School students at church. In 1982, she moved to Iron Mountain, Michigan where she changed to the Presbyterian Church, and she again taught Junior High students. She also joined the Dickenson County Players taking the part of Marion the Liberian in the Music Man, and Carrie in the Musical “Carousel”. She moved to Biloxi in 1989 where she joined the Opera Group and participated in the musical “Oliver”. She remained active in the Christian Women’s Club and the Presbyterian Church. Almost everything in her life centered around her belief in God, her beautiful voice, and her love for animals.

In 2005, She moved to Vancleave and to First Presbyterian Church in Ocean Springs. She sang in the choir until September 2023 when cancer intervened. After several months of treatment, the cancer was in remission but returned in May of 2024.

She was preceded in death by her father, Emmet Dwayne Lantzy in 1989; brother, Leroy Lantzy in 2008; and her mother, Estelle Lantzy in 2021.

Linda is survived by her husband, Ronald Junkin; two sisters, Kathy Wilson of Newman, GA and Judy Hill of Carriere, MS.

A funeral service will be held at 2:00pm on Saturday, July 13, 2024 at First Presbyterian Church of Ocean Springs, MS. Friends may visit one hour prior.

Bradford-O’Keefe Funeral Home is honored to serve the family of Linda Lantzy Junkin.