Linda was born in Colorado in 1949. She wore many different hats in her lifetime, but there were several things she was passionate about. She was always an artist, creating beautiful drawings, paintings, sculptures, glass etchings and other pieces to be cherished. She loved nature, and spent much of her life exploring the outdoors. She loved camping and fishing, and watching wildlife.
In her adventures she went many places. She took up skydiving in her early adulthood - until she fought with a runway and the runway won. She rode across the country on the back of a motorcycle. She traveled all over the western states, swam in the ocean, climbed mountains, and even spent a night atop Devils Tower in Wyoming. She went skinny dipping in Glenwood Springs, harvested wood from the Rocky Mountains, and picked peaches in Palisade.
When her children cam along she said it was her greatest blessing, and she loved all four of them with everything she was. She raised 4 children, and was stepmother to 5 more. She was always the MOM of the crowd, even in her younger days. When her childrens friends came home, most of them called her mom too. She nurtured not only her own children, but their friends and spouses as well.
Linda had a passion for animals too. She wanted to become a veterinarian, but was never able to finish college to get there. Instead she adopted more than her share of animals, both large and small. Sometimes people would just come up to the door with a stray animal, as if there were a magnitic sign in the front yard that said "STRAYS ALWAYS WELCOME". Maybe that sign applied to lost people too. She was always well known for giving mouth-to-mouth to a duckling that had gotten water logged, and for spoiling the family white rat with M-n-M's.
Linda had always loved horses, riding with her father on Table Mountain, and staying the night in the barn down the road when the mares were in foal. She got her first horse at 37, and learned as much as she could to train her herself. She passed this horse-craziness on to her children & grandchildren, who will see her dreams through. When she could no longer ride, she would sit by the arena and watch her daughters and grandaughters ride, just happy to be near them.
She encouraged each of her children to find happiness and peace, and she would be proud of the adults they have all become.
She had smoked for 41 years, and not always taken good care of her health - she had given most of what she had to those she loved - and that finally caught up with her. She fought for life, but the human body can only take so much. And so her time came, much sooner than any of us were ready for. But in her passing, we know she is no longer in pain, and that she is no longer trapped in a body that will not cooperate with her mind's intentions. So, willingly or not, we must let her go, knowing she is at peace and watching over us.
