Linda Fay Mattox Sims, aged 90, passed away on Saturday, May 4, 2024, at her home in Kingwood, TX.

Linda was born on October 30, 1933, in Meridian, MS. She grew up in Hattiesburg, MS, and graduated from Hattiesburg High School in 1952. She went on to attend Mississippi College and William Carey College, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts majoring in English.

Linda and her husband, Tom Sims, served at multiple churches across Mississippi and Texas as pastor/pastor's wife before Tom joined the Air Force as a chaplain. The Sims's were stationed in multiple postings across the country and around the world, including Ellington AFB in Houston, TX, during the Apollo missions and Lakenheath, England. In the early 1970s, they returned to Mississippi for Tom to attend law school at the University of Mississippi. They settled in Richton, MS, in 1975 and lived there until Tom's death in 2002. Linda then lived in Hattiesburg, Seminary, and Brandon before moving with her daughter, Mendy, to Kingwood, Texas, in 2015.

Linda was an accomplished artist and enjoyed needlework, gardening, and reading. She loved music and was a soprano in the Northminster Baptist Church choir in Jackson, MS, where she remained a member until her death.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Melvin Thomas "Tom" Sims; her son, Charles Mattox "Bud" Sims; her grandson, Thomas Daniel "Tommy" Cook; her parents, Henry Warren Mattox & Sybil Fay Magee Mattox; and her brother, Henry Ellis Mattox.

She is survived by her daughters, Zoe Ann (Lanny) Arnold of Ocean Springs, MS, and Melinda Sims "Mendy" (Michael) Gilliam of Kingwood, TX; 5 grandchildren: Rachel Ann Cook of Ocean Springs, MS; David Kervin Cook, Jr. of Ocean Springs, MS; Mitchell Sims (Kristlyn) Cook of Seminary, MS; Wren Mattox Gilliam of Kingwood, TX; and Kyle Thomas Gilliam of Cocoa, FL; 1 great grandson: Thomas Nickolai Smith of Ocean Springs, MS; 2 nephews and a niece: Robert Mattox of Gulfport, MS; Richard (Joyce) Mattox of Saucier, MS; and Rosalind (Herbie) Kuhn of D'Iberville, MS; and many, much-loved, great nieces & nephews & great-great nieces & nephews.