Linda Kirkpatrick Cover, 82, died in her sleep with her children surrounding her on Saturday, June 13, 2026 in Houston, Texas. She was born in Marlin, Texas on September 22, 1943 to Elizabeth Fullinwider and James Alvis Kirkpatrick.
She is survived by her husband Gene Cover; children Russell James, wife Marietta; Stephen James, wife Sheila; Leslie Hinrichs, husband Brad; Scott Cover and John Cover; grandchildren Alexandra Shaw, husband Randall; Megan Schumacher, husband Sean; Peyton Curtis, husband Harrison ; Mitchell Brackett, wife Salem; Robert Brackett; Katherine Brackett; Sabrina James; Sarah James, and Sloan James and seven great grandchildren: Lincoln, Winston and Thomas Shaw; Levi and Lucy Brackett, Genevieve Schumacher, and Jackson Curtis.
She was a 1961 graduate of Marlin (TX) High School, and received her BS in Physics from Sam Houston State University and her Library Science Certification from Baylor University. In 1964, she married Ken James with whom she had three children. In 1981 she and Gene were married. After raising her three children through elementary school, she became librarian at Woodview Elementary in Spring Branch ISD, a position she held for 22 years until her retirement in 2003. At one point she was named Employee of the Month in Spring Branch ISD. After retirement, she volunteered as librarian at Yellowstone Academy in Houston for a number of years.
She has a rich heritage of pastors in the Presbyterian Church dating back to the 1820’s when a grandfather was the first Presbyterian missionary to Texas in 1831 before Texas was a Republic. After that was a string of pastors and elders in the Presbyterian Church, Linda herself becoming an elder at John Knox PCUSA in Houston and Cornerstone Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Katy. At Cornerstone Linda started a women’s mentoring ministry and a ministry to teenage girls to teach them how a teen can hold to their faith in the face of mounting peer pressures. She also edited the Cornerstone Newsletter for over 20 years.
After she and Gene retired, they traveled all over the world pursuing God’s magnificent wonders and studying wildflowers, birds and genealogy.
She was a devoted wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother who leaves us with a legacy of a saving faith in Jesus Christ alone. She successfully knit a blended family into one rather large family. Family dinners at grandma’s house were always a highlight for the cousins.
Viewing will be held at Waltrip Funeral Home at 6:00 PM June 15; a Memorial Service at Cornerstone Presbyterian in Katy at 1:00 PM June 16 and a graveside service at Calvary Cemetery in Marlin, TX on June 17, 2026, at 1:00 pm.
