08/13/2018
Linda Beth Carnahan died unexpectedly July 25, 2018 from complications related to a previously undiagnosed cancer. Family members were at her side when she passed away, just three days after her 71st birthday.
Linda was a loving mother, grandmother, daughter, wife and friend. She was a talented and creative cook and was known to put out a tremendous spread at holidays and family get-togethers. She was an avid reader. Linda gardened and loved her dogs, and she relished the beauty of Texas wildflowers, especially bluebonnets. She invested herself deeply in a vibrant community of friends who supported each other and together worked to bring awareness and research attention to pancreatic cancer, in honor of her mother.
Nursing was Linda’s professional calling. After attending East Texas Baptist College in Marshall and El Centro College in Dallas, she was licensed as an R.N in 1968. In 1986, she attended graduate school at San Jose State University and became a nurse practitioner. She believed that every person was deserving of the best, most effective care possible. For more than three decades, she skillfully helped to meet the needs of her patients at hospitals, nursing homes, schools, clinics and doctors’ offices. Her family and friends benefitted from her nursing skills as well. In particular, she was of invaluable and loving support to each of her parents in their final months of life.
Linda Beth Burns was born July 22, 1947 in Center, Texas and grew up in Tenaha, Texas. She graduated from Tenaha High School in 1965, where she was homecoming queen.
In 1968 Linda married Jerry Andrews of Dallas. They had three children together before separating in 1997. In 2004 she married Charles Carnahan. He passed away in 2006. She spent her adult life in Dallas and the Dallas suburbs of Desoto and Duncanville.
Linda was preceded in death by her parents, Albert (Daddy Albert) and Virginia (Mama Gina) Burns, and by her second husband, Charles (Charlie) Carnahan.
She adored her family. She is survived by her brothers, Robert Burns and Barry Burns (Lisa), daughter Michelle Andrews Smith (Blake), sons Joshua Andrews (Meghan) and Jeremy Andrews, grandchildren Madeleine and Henry Smith and Leilani Castillo, niece Kennedy Burns, nephews Cooper Burns and Matthews Burns (Jill), and great nephews Luke and Jake Burns.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks friends to consider a donation to PANCAN, the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, at www.pancan.org. Linda was active in PANCAN after her mother’s battle with pancreatic cancer, and she cherished her many wonderful friends from that community.
