Linda Barker

A force to be reckoned with

Ding dong, the witch is gone. But the memory of my mother lives on. (Trust me, she would have laughed her rear-end off at that.)

Linda Ellen Brown Barker (using her actual middle name, because it drove her crazy) of Knoxville, TN passed away on October 15, 2025 after a long battle with emphysema and COPD. We are almost certain she did it on purpose to avoid having to go into a nursing home, something she was adamantly against. She leaves behind her daughter, Lia (Barker) Wainwright and grandchildren Sarah and Matthew, daughter-in-law Elizabeth Barker and grandchildren Vanessa and Jeremy, stepson Peter Barker and grandson Daniel, Cousin Bea (Clemmer) Wade and her family, nephews Marty and Eric Brown and their families, three great-grandchildren, a great-GREAT-grandchild, and many more extended family members and friends.

She was preceded in death by her husband of almost 40 years, John, her stepson Chris Barker, both parents, Mary and Ira Brown, and her brother, Doug Brown and his wife Nadiene.

Linda was a force to be reckoned with, a lifelong Tennessee Vols fan, maker of a mean deviled egg, and a tireless advocate for the Staffordshire Bull Terrier dog breed, dozens of whom (along with one very grumpy old Scotty) likely greeted her with wagging tails at the Rainbow Bridge, including Charley, Brandy, Bart, Cracker, Valley, Brat, Pinney, JR, Ohmy, King, Britches, Madonna, and JB. Potentially also a very vocal Siamese cat named G.D. There's a story there...