Melody Lynn Kinder

Melody Lynn Kinder, 37, of Cape Girardeau, passed away Friday, November 6, 2026, at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau.

She was born February 22, 1989, in Cape Girardeau, to Yvonne E. Kinder and Raymond C. Smith.

Melody was a graduate of Jackson High School. She worked locally as a housekeeper in hotels and a waitress and cook at restaurants. She was an artist and writer. She especially enjoyed drawing and writing poetry and once had a poem published in a national publication.

Melody’s surviving family includes her mother, Yvonne Kinder; father, Raymond Smith; two brothers and their families: Joe (Sonya) Kinder and children Kendra, Joseph, Brody, and Titan of Sedgewickville; Kris Kinder of Sikeston and children Ryan, Josh, Kara and Gabe; maternal aunt, Donna (Dwayne) Overbeck of Jackson, maternal uncle, Keenan (Christina) Kinder of Jackson; maternal cousins, Dana (Austin) Kight, and Deacon and Daisy Kinder; maternal great-aunts, Nancy D. Henson of Jackson and Sammie (late Jerry) Henson of Parkville, Missouri; Sammie and Jerry’s daughters, Sindie (Ken) Pugsley and Merry Eskew; the children of Sindie and Ken: Matt (Jill) Pugsley, Lena Pugsley, and Katie Pugsley; once-removed paternal cousins (the children of the late John Kinder): Stewart, Stanley, Tami, and Stacy; and second cousins, Robin, Danielle, Michael, Saxton, Levi, Elaina, Kimberly, Elijah and Gabrielle.

She was preceded in death by her maternal grandparents, Joyce and Don Kinder; maternal great-grandparents, Robert Lloyd and Hazel Viola Barks Henson; paternal great-grandparents, Bertie A. and Martha J. Hahn Kinder; and paternal great-uncles, John and Vernon Kinder.

Visitation is from 10:30 a.m. to service time, Wednesday, November 11, 2026, at McCombs Funeral Home and Cremation Center in Jackson. The Rev. Kevin Mann will conduct the funeral service at 11:30 a.m., Wednesday, at the funeral home. Burial will follow at Russell Heights Cemetery, where Melody will be interred near her maternal great-grandparents.

To assist the family with final expenses, memorial contributions to McCombs Funeral Home are appreciated.

Online condolences may be sent to the family by scrolling to the guest book beneath Melody’s obituary article at mccombsfuneralhome.com.