Linda Joyce Henry

Linda Joyce Henry of Pottsboro, Texas passed from this life on Feb 21, 2026, surrounded by family after a long struggle with Alzheimer’s disease. Linda was born on November 5, 1946, in Dallas, Texas to Lyndon Crane Allen and Bonnie Doreene (Williams) Allen. Her family moved to Abilene, Texas when Linda was four years old, in order for her father to attend Abilene Christian University and work for the Texas Highway Department as a civil engineer. Linda attended Abilene Christian Elementary School briefly, then Taylor Elementary, Lincoln Junior High and Abilene High School, graduating in 1965. She had three siblings: Dan, Mike, and Becky.

Linda was always very friendly and sociable, making life-long friends during her childhood and youth. She attended Abilene Christian University from 1965 through 1969 as an English Education major. During her freshman year she got involved with a student group holding evangelistic door-knocking campaigns on weekends and breaks. In February 1966 she met Calvin Henry on a Saturday morning in Albany, Texas during one such campaign. He first noticed her while a group of students were gathered around a stove, warming themselves at the back of the auditorium. It was obvious that she was the most vivacious of the group, the life of the party, and he decided he needed to get to know that girl. She, on the other hand, had noticed Calvin’s best friend, Ron Sellers, who happened to have a car (most freshmen didn’t back then). It worked out that Ron, with whom Calvin was riding, offered her and another girl a ride back to Abilene on Sunday. Ron had taken notice of the other girl and put her in the front seat with him, so Linda got stuck with Calvin. The rest is history.

In the summer of 1966, Linda and Calvin formed part of a group of thirty students riding a bus across several states on “Operation Doorbell” campaigns. Some of that group and their spouses have remained extremely close friends through the years. Calvin and Linda were married on March 30, 1969, and graduated from ACU that August. Linda taught junior high and high school English at Boles Home in Quinlan, Texas (1969-1971); Benton Academy in Benton, Mississippi (1974-1977); and Galena Park, Texas (1987-1992); she also taught Bible classes at Boles Home. Calvin preached at churches near all these locations. Linda and Calvin also lived in Dale City, Virginia, near Washington D.C., 1971-1974 where Calvin preached for a brand new church. Their first child, Michelle, was born there, and Linda managed to work as a Princess House sales representative. The church was made up mostly of young couples far from their homes of origin. Many of them became another set of life-long friends.

Linda had grown up dreaming of being a missionary, but she had in mind it would be to an English-speaking country—but she married the wrong man for that. Calvin had been studying Spanish and dreaming of being a missionary to Latin America since seventh grade. Linda was finally convinced to ‘give it a go’. A note from a missionary in Costa Rica pleading for more missionaries led the Henrys there. The work of Christ in Latin America became the center of their lives from that day until now. The Henrys drove to Costa Rica when baby Darla was two months old, and worked as church planters there from 1977 to 1983. Their son, Trey, was born there. One of the more significant things they did during that time in Costa Rica was starting a church in their home in San José. They made friends with their neighbors and Christians throughout the country, especially a lot of young people. Linda kept up with many of them for the rest of her life.

The Henrys loved Costa Rica—the beauty, the climate, the people and the churches. Since several other missionaries of churches of Christ had moved into the country, they thought they might move someplace with more need. In July of 1984 they moved to Cali, Colombia, where they did not know a soul—during the heyday of the drug cartels. A Colombian preacher, new to Cali, heard of their arrival and came to see them in the old hotel in which they were spending their first days. He invited them to attend the tiny church meeting in a ramshackle house in an extremely poor and dangerous neighborhood. Linda didn’t balk, even when the first taxi driver they hailed refused to take them into that dangerous neighborhood. There, Linda served in the same role she had throughout her work in Latin America: teaching children, young people, ladies, and especially training others to teach. One of the children in the church was seven-year-old Andres Badillo. During her memorial service, he will be delivering the eulogy.

As the cartels and guerrilla groups gained in strength and made more direct threats against U.S. citizens living in the country, Calvin received a call from two of his oldest friends. Ron Sellers and Charlie Middlebrook invited his family to come join theirs in a new work in inner-city Houston, called Impact Houston. They needed a Spanish speaker to work with them, so Calvin and Linda accepted the invitation and spent five enjoyable years working with friends and developing the Hispanic ministry of that church.  Latin America remained in their hearts, so they returned to Costa Rica where they began a church near the University of Costa Rica. One night a week, Linda and Calvin hosted university students in their home.

The Henrys thought they might spend the rest of their lives in Costa Rica, but God thought otherwise. Out of the blue, in 1996 they received an invitation to meet with the search committee seeking a new president of the Baxter Institute located in Tegucigalpa, Honduras—a four-year school for training preachers, teachers and leaders for churches all over Latin America. During that meeting, one of the committee members said to another, “If we hire him, we’ll get two for the price of one.” And they did. At Baxter Linda was in heaven on earth. She relished her role as the English teacher for all the students in the school. Some of the students with the highest grade-points didn’t like her as a teacher, because she was a hard grader who would knock down their average. However, in later  years, many told her, “Thank you for forcing me to learn English.” Even more than teaching English, she relished her role as head of the women’s program—beginning a weekly chapel just for women, teaching classes on Christian education, and counseling them about the kind of lives they would have as preachers’ wives in Latin America. Many of the men also sought out her listening ear.

In late October 1998, Hurricane Mitch, one of the most violent in history, hit Honduras. The city most affected was Choluteca. Roads and bridges were washed out, neighborhoods fell into the river, and many lives and homes were lost. Linda jumped into action, obtaining a satellite phone from Healing Hands International and communicating with Christians around the country. She handled communications with churches in the States wanting to send groups to help, then met with the mayor of Choluteca, convincing him to grant a section of land outside the city to build houses. She coordinated the dates different groups were coming, arranged their transportation, and visited the worksites on various occasions. The grateful recipients of the homes decided to name their neighborhood “Linda Henry.”

While at Baxter, Linda developed quite a reputation. She was frequently invited to give seminars around Central America. For several years in a row she was the speaker for an all-day women’s seminar in El Salvador, with 500 or more in attendance. She was invited to speak more than once at the indigenous Quiché women’s events in Guatemala. She would speak in Spanish with a Quiché translator. At these events she would sleep on a straw mat on the floor.

The Henrys moved from Honduras to North Texas in December 2003 in order to be near family, especially their aging mothers. In January 2004 they began to work with Great Cities Missions, an organization preparing and sending mission teams to Latin America to plant churches. Up until that time, GCM was sending out only North Americans. The Henrys began recruiting, training, and finding funding for Latin American mission teams graduating from the Baxter Institute. Approximately twenty such teams have worked planting churches in at least seven countries. Linda played a vital role in training, mentoring, and counseling dozens of missionary wives on these teams, even years after retiring from an official role.

Upon their return to the States, the Henrys were members of the High Pointe Church of Christ in McKinney, Texas; the Church of Christ in Aubrey, Texas; the Singing Oaks Church of Christ in Denton, Texas; and, since 2019, the Park Avenue Church of Christ in Denison, Texas, serving on mission committees and being involved in mission outreach. Linda played a vital communications role in each.

Linda had a deep and abiding faith in God, appreciation of His grace in Christ, and hope of eternal life. She loved worshipping Him. She was so happy that all her children are faithfully serving the Lord. Her greatest desire was that all her grandchildren continue in His steps.

Linda is survived by her husband of nearly 57 years, James Calvin Henry Jr.; her daughter Michelle Hartman with husband Jerry, of Weatherford, Oklahoma; daughter Darla Mullins with husband Patrick of Denison, Texas; and son James “Trey” Henry with wife Morgan of Arlington, Texas.  Grandchildren are Hannah, Sarah, and Leah Hartman of Edmond, Oklahoma; Henry, Samuel, Jace and Kai Mullins of Denison; Margaret and James Henry of Arlington. She is also survived by her brother Dan Allen of Abilene with his wife Karen, and her sister Becky Musgrave of Abilene, as well as sister-in-law Susie Hilton of Denison, and a host of other in-laws, nieces and nephews.  She was preceded in death by her parents and her brother Michael Glen Allen and infant grandson, Noah Jace Hartman.

Visitation will be held on Tuesday, February 24, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. at Turrentine-Jackson-Morrow Funeral Home, 401 W. Woodard Street, Denison, TX 75020. Funeral services will take place on Wednesday, February 25, at 1:00 p.m. at Park Avenue Church of Christ, 3000 Park Avenue, Denison, TX 75020, followed by interment at Georgetown Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers the family suggests contributions to be made to:

Baxter Foundation at https://baxterinstitute.edu

Or

Great Cities Missions at http://www.greatcities.org