Linda Hearst

Mary Linda Hearst (nee Rodgers)

April 28, 1944 – July 2, 2021

Linda Hearst passed away on Friday, July 2, at the Tiffany Springs Memory Care Center in Kansas City, MO. The second of five children born to Robert and Sally Rodgers, Linda married H. Terry Hearst in Yazoo City, MS, on September 4, 1965. Terry, her best friend, died in 2019. Linda is survived by their sons, Harold (Kim) Hearst, North Andover, MA, and Matthew (Amy) Hearst, Kansas City, and grandchildren H. Terry III, Francis, Marie, Nathan, Elizabeth and Anna Hearst. She is also survived by her siblings, Robert (Anita) Rodgers, Thorton, CO; Carol (Billy) Poore, Yazoo City; and Ruth King, Jonesville, LA, as well as sisters- and brothers-in-law with whom she was very close: Nora, Linda and Steve, Mary Ann and Jim, and Michael and Jodi. Grandnieces Margaret Rodgers and Mallissa (Jason) Linscott and their children brought Linda much joy through the years.

Born in Yazoo City, Linda was one of the oldest in a large and loving family. After graduating from high school in 1962, she worked as a beautician and created scrapbooks of her adventures learning the trade in New Orleans. In her 20s, she bartered haircuts for piano lessons. Her greatest work was as a wife and mother, supporting her husband as his career progressed and raising their sons as the family moved from Mississippi, to Louisiana, then Kentucky, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and Indiana before retiring in Gulf Shores, AL.

Linda learned to paint, a hobby she continued throughout the 1980s. While living in Illinois, she was commissioned to paint the U.S.S. Constitution for a local business. She enjoyed cooking and golf as well as traveling to Europe, wine country and NYC with friends and took pride in her amazing flower gardens. Active in the community, Linda was president of the Service League in Michigan City, IN (a volunteer group that provided medical supplies for uninsured elderly neighbors) and of the P.E.O. Sisterhood. She also hosted many dinners and parties for friends and family, including a railroad-themed 40th birthday celebration for her husband, a 1980s welcome event for Barbara Bush during an Iowa presidential campaign stop, and countless social club and family get-togethers.

Family and friends remember Linda as upbeat, happy, smiling and loving. She will be missed.

A memorial will be held at a future date. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to the Alzheimer's Association (https://www.alz.org/get-involved-now/donate).