July 1, 1952 – June 21, 2023
Linda Susan Mayes was born in Philadelphia on July 1, 1952, to Leila Mae Mathis and the late Harold Brown, Sr.
Linda attended Bok Vocational School, where she learned to be a seamstress. She was also a hairstylist, worked as a clerk in the cleaners business and as a custodial worker in different schools.
Linda loved home decorating. She sewed curtains, created handmade baskets, and much more. She loved eating at the buffet! She loved entertaining her grandchildren with whom she had special bonds with. Playing cards was Linda’s thing. 2500 being the game she loved most, before moving to Virginia, and switching to spades.
What people loved most about Linda… she was beautiful and smart with a heart of gold. She loved talking “ish” but she could back it up. Linda didn’t take ‘no stuff’ and if you would get in a fight with her, she would bite the “ish” out of you if she could, as her sister, Pat would say.
Linda met and married Joseph Rhone III at a young age. Out of that union, they had two boys, Joseph “Yusuf” Rhone IV and Steven Rhone.
As life went on, Linda moved to Virginia where she met and married the late Berkley Nathaniel Mayes. Together, they had a baby girl, Shareen Danielle Mayes.
Linda was preceded in death by her husband, Berkley Mayes; sisters, Deborah Mathis and Marie Miller; brothers, Ricky and Frank Brown; and her stepfather, Herbert Mathis.
Linda leaves to cherish her memories: her loving mother, Leila Mae Mathis; sons, Joseph “Yusuf” Rhone IV (his wife and Linda’s caregiver, Barbara “Naadirah” Rhone) and Steven Rhone (Chrystal); daughter, Shareen Mayes; brothers, Harold Brown, Jr., Johnny Mathis, William Mathis, Ricky Miller and John Green; sisters, Adrianne Mathis, Regina Mathis, Patricia Mathis, and Leila Mathis II; seventeen grandchildren; twenty great grandchildren; three dear friends, Gayle Blake, Lois Winfield and Lucy Diggs; and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins and friends.
Services will be held 1:00 P.M., Saturday, July 1, 2023, in the Chapel of J. M. Wilkerson Funeral Establishment, Inc., 102 South Avenue, Petersburg, VA. The interment to follow at Wilkerson Memorial Cemetery.
J.M. Wilkerson Funeral Establishment, Inc., 102 South Avenue, Petersburg, VA, (804) 732-8911, watch the funeral services live online at www.jmwilkersonsince1874.com.