Linda Kay Cathey

Linda Kay Holeman Wagner Cathey, 83, of Paragould, AR, passed away at her home on Thursday, December 21, 2023. Born in Berry, AL, on September 22, 1940, to Belton and Mildred Waldrop Holeman, she was a homemaker and of the Pentecostal faith. Linda loved her family dearly, was a devoted mom to her several fur babies in life, especially her dog Sadie. She also loved to do crafts and sewing, loved good gospel music and good spirited preaching of the Word, and loved good Mexican food. She especially loved to go out with her sister Mary to eat Mexican food and to also go with Mary to Sonic and get a Dr. Pepper and a hot fudge sundae. She loved her phone conversations with her sisters, but Dian was the one who would talk the longest on the phone with her. In her later years, her son, Dennis, lived with her and loved to spoil his mom with gifts at Christmas. 

Linda lived almost 30 years of her life in Orange Grove, CA, just five blocks from Disneyland. She and her husband, Jim, raised three kids there. Dian had visited there and Mary had visited more than once, alone and with Charles. It was always a vacation at Jim & Linda’s like nowhere else. 

Linda lived with an open heart of love and open hands that were always giving. Says Mary, “I’ve never seen anyone who would give so much to charities yet buy her own things including clothes, from Dollar General. She had the most generous and loving heart of anyone I know. To know Linda was to love Linda. She was the best sister ever. To the very end of her life, she was still thinking of others and hoping she would not pass away during the holidays because she did not want to leave a sadness forever for her family during those times.”

Linda was preceded in death by her parents and her stepfather, Rev. Robert Everley Wagner, her husband, James “Jim” Cathey, two daughters, Lorie Ryan and Leslie Zieger, two brothers, Thomas Wagner and Everley Wagner, three sisters, Eve Wagner, Emma Lou Hamm and Mildred “Mickey” Orr.

She is survived by her son, Dennis M. Cathey of Paragould, AR; two sisters, Dian Lucas (James) Lucas of Jonesboro, AR, and Mary (Charles) Mosley of Jonesboro, AR; one special niece, Amy Tagert Mosley (Michael) of Hendersonville, TN; two special great nephews, Tanner and Logan Thornsberry of Hendersonville, TN; one special great niece, Grace Wallace of Hendersonville, TN; and one special great-great-nephew, Greyson Thornberry of Hendersonville, TN. There were other nephews and niece who had been close to Linda over time, and she leaves a grand host of other nephews and nieces and an abundance of greats across the United States.

A private graveside service was held at Jonesboro Memorial Park Cemetery on Saturday, December 30, 2023.