Linda Kay Blanton

With tremendous sadness and bittersweet appreciation for the time that we had with her, the Blanton family regretfully announces the passing of our kind, caring, funny, and compassionate wife, mother, and friend, Linda Kay Blanton. She passed away peacefully on September 28, 2025, at the age of 78, with her two sons, Brian and Andrew, and her husband, Larry, by her side.

Linda was born in Farmington, Missouri, on August 7, 1947 as the first child of Fred and Barbra, and grew up with two siblings, James (Jim) Billedo and Joyce Stam. Linda was always a free spirit and loved life. She moved out of her childhood home at the age of 16 and by the age of 18, moved to St. Louis, where she met her neighbor and the person who would later become her husband, and the father of her children, Larry. Linda started working for Western Electric in 1968, where she would continue to work for the next 35 years. While in St. Louis, Linda and Larry had their first child, Brian, in 1974, and their second child, Andrew, in 1981.

In 1981, she moved with her family to Denver, Colorado, where she spent the next 20 years as an active member of the community while raising her two sons. With an eclectic taste for fun, Linda loved creating clothes and costumes for belly dancing and clowns, in which she participated in several parades, including the Western Welcome Week, where she dressed up her son Andrew to be the youngest clown in the parade. While in Denver, her position at the phone company was spun off from AT&T into Lucent Technologies, where she continued to build her career that would eventually lead to her role as Project Manager, overseeing projects like the updating of the Miami telecommunications infrastructure and working in the international division between the United Kingdom and the US.

By 1999, she moved back to Missouri to Lake of the Ozarks, where, once she had retired from the phone company, she started building a community and friendships that would last through the rest of her life. Ever ambitious and entrepreneurial, she started several companies, including a gift basket business and a cleaning business in her early years at the Lake. Later in life, she fell into her love of quilting and fiber arts. She honed her craft as a quilter and had an avid passion for creating quilts to support community events to raise money for charitable organizations, while some of her last series of quilts were made for war veterans. Her quilts won several awards and were presented in museum shows; they are truly beloved objects by those who have received them.

Linda is survived by her husband Larry Blanton and her two children, Brian Blanton, her daughter-in-law Kate Blanton and Andrew Blanton, and her two grandchildren, James Blanton and Dylan Blanton, her brother James (Jim) Billedo, her sister-in-law Susan Billedo, and her sister Joyce Stam, and her brother-in-law Larry Stam as well as her beloved cousins, nieces, nephews, and dear friends.

Family and Friends are invited to attend a celebration of Linda's life, which will be held at the Lake Ozark Christian Church on Saturday, October 18th, from 4-6 p.m. Memorial donations can be made to Lake Ozark Christian Church.

Arrangements are under the direction of Hedges-Scott-Millard Funeral Homes, 514 Highway 42, Osage Beach, MO 65065 (573) 348-3232. Condolences may be left online for the family at www.hedgesscottmillard.com.