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Linda L. (Lumpkins) Pogany

Posted 2018-03-02 by Judy Wight Branson
The Camp Verde Bugle, Camp Verde, Arizona
Saturday, February 24, 2018

Linda L. Pogany, 78, born Aug. 28, 1939, in Leoma, Tennessee, passed
away Feb. 10, 2018, in Cottonwood, Arizona.

A memorial service will be held on Friday,March 2, 2018, at
Clarkdale
Baptist Church, 1051 AZ-89A, Clarkdale, Arizona, at 11 a.m.

Bueler Funeral Home handled arrangements. buelerfuneralhome.com

-----------------------

The Camp Verde Bugle, Camp Verde, Arizona
Tuesday, February 27, 2018

Linda L. Pogany was born in Leoma, Tennessee, on Aug. 28, 1939. She
was the first child born to James H. and Shirley E. Lumpkins.

After graduating from Manchester High School in Manchester,
Tennessee, Linda moved to Nashville to attend Belmont College, where
she earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Education with a minor in Spanish.

Linda also took voice lessons while at Belmont and performed in many
college musicals and concerts. Though it was against the Belmont
College rules of conduct and at the risk of being expelled from
college if she got caught, (which she didn’t), Linda entered a dance
contest on American Bandstand. She and her dance partner won second
place.

During this same time, Linda met her future husband, Gilbert C.
Pogany. After graduating from Belmont, Linda attended George Peabody
College, which is now an integral part of Vanderbilt University. It
was here that Linda earned her Master’s Degree in Education.
In 1962, Gilbert and Linda were married in Manchester, Tennessee.
They settled in New Orleans, Louisiana. Linda began teaching at a
school in Metairie, Louisiana, while Gilbert attended Tulane
University, earning his Ph.D., in Embryology. It was during this
time that, in 1963, Gilbert and Linda’s daughter, Shirley, was born.

After Gilbert’s completion of his doctoral program at Tulane
University, the family moved to Emory, Virginia, where Gilbert
accepted a position in the Biology Department at Emory and Henry
College and Linda taught at a local elementary school.

In 1967, the family moved to Brussels, Belgium, for a year of post-
doctoral research. They enjoyed traveling all over Europe when they
could and especially enjoyed visiting family in Budapest, Hungary.
In 1968 they returned to Emory, Virginia. and resumed teaching.
In 1968, Gilbert was offered a teaching position at Northern Arizona
University (NAU), which he accepted, and so, in 1969 the family
packed up and moved to Flagstaff, Arizona. Shortly after their
arrival, Gilbert and Linda’s second child, Paul, was born. With two
children, one in 1st grade and one an infant, Linda decided to stay
home and tended to the care and raising of the family until Paul was
old enough to go to 1st grade.

While at home, Linda kept very busy with church activities and
teaching a 4-H cooking class. After her son, Paul, started attending
elementary school, Linda began focusing on returning to work. She
applied for and was offered a position as the ESL (English as a
Second Language) and Title One Reading teacher for Tuba City Public
Schools in Cameron, Arizona. She taught there for 12 years.

During those 12 years, she attended NAU and earned her Master’s
Degree in TESL, (Teaching English as a Second Language). In 1995,
after Gilbert retired from NAU, they moved to Cottonwood, Arizona.
They both began teaching part-time at Beaver Creek Elementary
School. Linda taught remedial reading and Gilbert taught advanced
math.

Throughout her life Linda was devoted to her church and her family.
Within the church she assumed a number of responsibilities including
teaching Vacation Bible School every summer, she was the Director of
WMU (Women’s Missionary Union), and was always an active member of
the church choir. Linda often sang solos at church, which she
enjoyed very much, especially during the Christmas season when she
would sing a particular solo while Gilbert accompanied her on the
piano.

She and her daughter, Shirley, also sang with the Verde Voices choir
for one year. Linda enjoyed traveling.

Besides the year the family spent in Europe, Linda traveled to
Africa, staying there for about three weeks and visiting Kenya,
Nairobi and other places. In the late 1990s she traveled to China by
herself. Gilbert also went to China alone, but a few years later
both Linda and Gilbert returned to China together, sightseeing for a
couple of weeks. One of the highlights of their trip was a boat
cruise down the Yangtze River. Linda and her husband enjoyed several
visits to Los Angeles, California, when their daughter, Shirley,
lived there from 1996 to 2007.

Throughout the years the family made many summertime cross-country
road trips to Tennessee in an old car with no air conditioning.
During those long and hot road trips, Linda kept her children happy
and focused on something besides the miserable heat by singing songs
and playing games. Linda and Gilbert traveled extensively after
retiring. They visited Yellowstone National Park, Bryce Canyon, and
Durango, Colorado, where they rode on the Silverton Train. Linda
traveled with her daughter, Shirley, and Shirley’s son, Michael
Terrell, to Vancouver, British Columbia, and Queen Victoria Island.

Linda, accompanied by her daughter, always looked forward to
traveling back to Manchester, Tennessee, for her high school
reunions. It was during one of these trips that Linda joined Shirley
on an impromptu visit to the Jack Daniel’s distillery in Lynchburg,
Tennessee, surprisingly located in one of the few remaining “Dry
Counties” (no alcohol allowed).

In 1997, Linda was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease, which she was
able to successfully control until the last three years of her life
when the severity of her condition made it difficult and eventually
impossible to sustain her normal activities. Linda passed away on
Feb. 10, 2018.

She is survived by her husband, Dr. Gilbert C. Pogany of Cottonwood,
Arizona; her daughter, Shirley R. Pogany of Clarkdale, Arizona; her
granddaughter, Maia R. Pogany of Mesa, Arizona; grandsons, Michael
R. Terrell (wife Ashley Arroyo Terrell) of Cottonwood, Arizona,
Mason Pogany-Ralston and Holden Pogany-Ralston of Phoenix, Arizona.
In addition, she is survived by her sisters, Sylvia Houser (Bob) of
Florida, Dianne Griffith (Gary) of Tennessee; her brother, Jim
Lumpkins (Kathy) of Tennessee; as well as numerous nieces and
nephews.

Linda was preceded in death by her parents, James H. and Shirley E.
Lumpkins; and her son, Paul W. Pogany. A memorial service will be
held on Friday, March 2, 2018, 11 a.m., at Clarkdale Baptist Church,
1051 AZ-89A, Clarkdale, Arizona.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made, in
Linda Pogany’s name, to the Barrows Neurological Foundation at 124
West Thomas Rd., Suite 250, Phoenix, AZ. 85013, 602-406 3041 or
https://www.supportbarrow.org/ways-to-give/honor-someone-special.

Bueler Funeral Home handled arrangements. Visit their website at
www.buelerfuneralhome.com.

Information provided by survivors.




Note: These obituaries are transcribed as published and are submitted by volunteers who have no connection to the families. They do not write the obituaries and have no further information other than what is posted within the obituaries. We do not do personal research. For this you would have to find a volunteer who does this or hire a professional researcher.

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