Lynda Gayle Mackey

Lynda Gayle Mackey, 71, passed away on Thursday, July 17, 2025, peacefully at home while under hospice care.

Lynda was born on December 25, 1953, in Columbus, Ohio to WWII veteran Charles R. Kitchton (1918-1966) and Gayle A. DeRoss (1917-1993). She went to school in Upper Arlington, Ohio, graduating a year early with honors in 1970. In school she was known to friends by the nickname Phred. Lynda then attended Tarkio College in Tarkio, Missouri. Around 1989 she took criminology courses at Ohio State taught by Sam Dinitz, an internationally known prison sociology scholar, and she became a member of Mortar Board, an OSU senior class honorary. She later earned a BS in Criminology online at The University of the State of New York in their Regents External Degree Program (now Excelsior University) in 1990.

Lynda was married 3 times: to David W. Miller from 1973-1977, together living in Fairborn, Ohio; to Kenneth R. Ward from 1978-1987, having 2 children, Douglas K. Ward and Patricia G. Ward (Dowdy); and lastly to Richard A. Mackey from 1988-1997.

Lynda's interest in photography led to an early career in sports photography, in particular with the Columbus Clippers minor league baseball team. Sometime around 1980 she moved with her young family to Colorado, and not long after that to Texas. At Compaq Corporation in Houston she wrote their first technical manuals. After a period living and working in Nashville in the mid-1980s, she was back in Columbus, and began working at The Ohio State University in 1988 in the Instruction & Research Computer Center (IRCC), becoming the founding leader of the Publications Group. Her work on a coursework catalog won her the Best Catalog Award from the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) Special Interest Group on University and College Computing Services. Lynda was a member of the University Staff Advisory Committee from 1997-2000. She finished her working career at OSU's College of Education, becoming their founding Web Administrator. There she launched the first three OSU courses taught entirely on the Internet. She retired in 2008.

Lynda was a voracious reader, true crime being her favorite subject, and a skilled writer and book editor, and could always be counted on for assistance with word spellings or usage. She was a member of Mensa and also the Triple Nine Society. She had a life-long love of cats, and even owned several winning show cats. For a time Lynda and her sister ran an antiques business in Zanesville called Sanford and Sister. She was a fearless cook, willing to take on any recipe and perfect it. She won ribbons at the Ohio State Fair for many of her food creations, and had numerous published recipes, including a pie recipe published in a Pillsbury book. Lynda was also accomplished in arts and crafts, mastering knitting, tatting, crocheting, yarn spinning, doll making, quilting, weaving, embroidery, beading, screen printing, jewelry making, and paper arts, winning many more Ohio State Fair ribbons for her works. For years she enjoyed creating artist trading cards, infusing them with her sense of humor, and trading them under the invented moniker Christiana Robertson. Lynda also enjoyed camping in state parks, and hiking reasonable trails.

Lynda was preceded in death by her parents and brother Kyle C. Kitchton (1949-2020), and is survived by sister Sharon K. Popovic (born 1946), son Douglas and Michelle Ward (and granddaughter Frances), daughter Patricia and James Dowdy (and grandson Jameson), and domestic partner of 24 years Michael J. Fulmer.

Visitation will be held 5-7pm, August 4th, at Newcomer, 3393 Broadway, Grove City. A memorial service will commence at Newcomer at 11am, August 5th, followed by a graveside service at Forest Grove Cemetery, 8270 Cemetery Pike, Plain City, Ohio.