Julia “Linda” Cotton Basinger passed away peacefully at her home surrounded by her loving family after a year long illness.

Linda was a fighter. She fought the good fight, kept the faith, finished the race, and is now reaping her reward with her Savior in heaven.

She was born in Hohenwald at the Boyce Clinic on March 13, 1952 to Marvin Eunice and Martha Vera (Dunn) Cotton. She was a Daddy’s girl and was his shadow. She also loved playing with and watching the children her Mom kept, and helping her Mom cook. Both of her brothers thought she hung the moon and vice versa.

Linda loved the Lord first foremost, and was an active member of Hohenwald First United Methodist Church. When her children were younger and in the youth group, she directed many bible schools, Christmas programs, and always made the broccoli and cheddar soup for the Methodist Women’s bizarre.

Her family was the most important thing in her life and her children and Grandchildren were the light of her life. She attended every football game, ballet recital, tennis game, dance recital, grandparent’s day, band concert and contest, graduation, etc. If the kids were involved and she could be there, she was there. Her memory will live on in her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and all who loved her.

Linda was just a lover of people and was kind, caring, giving, and thought the best of everyone. She enjoyed the simple things in life like going to the Mennonites, collecting tea towels, visiting little towns and stores, and spending time with her husband at their cabin in the mountains. She loved to travel and she and Jerry got to travel a lot in their 6 years of marriage. They just enjoyed being together in whatever adventure they were on.

Her favorite color was UT Volunteer Orange! If the Big Orange were playing, she was watching. Her beloved husband would subscribe to any channel if it meant she could watch her Volunteers. Football was her favorite, but she watched it all.

She is survived by her loving and devoted husband of 6 years, Jerry Lewis Basinger, Daughter Lezlee Dabbs Beard-Gower (Scott), Son Lincoln Wayne Dabbs (Tiffany), and Son Lantz Walker Dabbs (Stacy). Grandchildren Neison Walker Dabbs (Kirstan), Avery Walker Dabbs, Hudson Cotton Beard, Emery Rae Dabbs, Cooper Alton Dabbs, Macartney Case Dabbs, Davis “Knox” Dabbs, and Zachary Gray Dabbs. Great-Grandchildren Jayce and Reyna Allen; Bonus children Donna Gardner, Darryl, Lewis, and Bill Basinger; Bonus grandsons Andrew Gower, Zane Wallace, Hunter, Carter, Clayton, Randy, and Nathan Morehead. Bonus granddaughters Elizabeth, Gracie and Tessa Morehead. She is also survived by many loving nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends.

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her brother and sister in love Eunice and Annie Ruth Cotton, brother and sister in love Robert and Charlotte Cotton, son in love John Howard Beard, Mother and father in love Tinty and Bill Dabbs, and sister in love Rita Sanders Dabbs.

If anyone would like to send a memorial in lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Hohenwald First United Methodist Church: 200 S. Court Street, Hohenwald, TN 38462. Funeral services were held September 24, 2024 at McDonald Funeral Home in Centerville. Burial followed in the Graves Cemetery in Linden.