Linda Loyce Coomer

Linda Loyce (Dennis) Coomer passed away Thursday, May 7, 2026 in Decatur, Texas, surrounded by her large family.

She was born in Fort Worth, Texas on February 22, 1940 to Thomas Ely Dennis and Frances Virginia (Deaver) Dennis, the third of four children. In 1957, the year before she graduated from North Side High in Fort Worth, she married Rufus Coomer, an Air Force crewman from Indiana she’d met on a blind date. They were married for 67 years and had three children, Joseph, Phillip and Sally. Through many careers and businesses, the family traveled from Texas to Nebraska, California, New Jersey, Kentucky and finally back home to Texas. She was the glue that held all together, when Dad was deployed to distant bases in the Air Force, and she was the center we all returned to. As Dad was transferred from job to job with the Air Force and later IBM, she took temporary jobs where she could find them and raised her children, often on her own, to love and succeed. Throughout their marriage she and her husband opened several businesses: LaVon Beauty Supply in Fort Worth, a farm in Kentucky, Pinetree Systems in Arlington, Crosstie Lumber in Azle, and finally Coomers Craft Malls with over 40 locations in the South.

She was the matriarch of a large clan, and kept her children close throughout her life. To this day all three children and several grandchildren live on her homeplace. Kind, protective, constant attender of school events, keeper of an open home where you never needed to knock, the world feels like an unstrung instrument to us now. There is one less place to hide from the world, one less heart to enter, one less unlocked door.

She is survived by her three children: Joe Coomer, Phil Coomer and Sally Smith and their spouses, Isabelle Tokumaru, Ngan Nguyen, and Forrest Smith, by her sister, Melody Sherrod, sister-in-law, Linda Dennis, 6 grandchildren and 18 great grandchildren, numerous nieces and nephews.

She was pre-deceased by her husband, Rufus Coomer, sister, June Blankenship and husband Bob Blankenship, and brother, Tom Dennis Jr.

She smiled and laughed so easily, was so resilient and graceful under pressure, and so unwavering in support of her family. To any proposal, whether it was an offer of dessert, or a move across the country, her usual calm response was, “Might as well.”

 Aw, Mom, your boys and girls miss you this morning. We are always too young to lose our mother.

No funeral or memorial service will be held at this time.