Linda Diane Barton

Linda Diane (Bassham) Barton was born to the late Talmage and Eunice Bassham on January 12, 1949, at Moko, Arkansas. She passed away to her heavenly home June 19, 2024.

In Moko, she was the middle sibling to Larry and Richard. Linda learned to play the piano and sing on the farm with her brothers and dad. She frequently joked that their farm yielded many rocks, and she was tasked with picking them up.

In 1967, Linda graduated from West Plains High School. Then on June 1, 1968, she married Curtis Barton. They had just celebrated fifty six years together.

She is survived by her husband, Curtis Barton, West Plains, Missouri; two children, Andrea Porter and husband Joe, and their two children, Andrew and Hannah, Springfield, Missouri, and Adam Barton and wife Stefani, and their two children, Harmony and Cadence, Battlefield, Missouri; two brothers, Richard Bassham and wife Quetha, Kansas City, Kansas, and Larry Bassham and wife Elda, Nixa, Missouri.

Linda was multi-dimensional: volunteer, teacher, musician, and business owner. She owned her own clothing boutique, retired from the phone company, owned Sears of West Plains, volunteered with the Business and Professional Women’s Organization, organized concerts, and built up many local musicians, encouraging them, guiding them down their own path.

However, Linda is likely most known for her presence behind a piano, and the songs she wrote. She started playing the piano for her dad at the age of twelve, swinging her feet above the pedals. Then in 1971, she and Curtis formed the Gospel Generation Singers, ending her performing years as The Barton’s. Every member that passed through the group over the years she considered family.

But the jewels of her crown, her pride and joy, were her grandkids, Andrew, Hannah, Harmony, and Cadence. She shared her love of singing and the piano with them, encouraged them in their own activities, and went to as many events she could.

Today we honor her. She was a special lady to many.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her father-in-law and mother-in-law, and multiple Bassham and Barton family members. Along with family, there were other special friends welcoming her into the Pearly Gates: Bill and Joyce Underwood, Bob Ray, Randall Lovelace, and Belinda Pendergrass. Although she is no longer present, her vibrant smile, love to God, and how she made a piano dance, will live forever.

Celebration of Life is to be held Sunday, June 30, 2024 at 2:00 p.m. at First Freewill Baptist Church in West Plains, Missouri.

                    “You should see the view from here.”