Thanks Dave -
Linda was living in Edmond Oklahoma the same time you and Bonnie were when I visited in 2013.
Farewell, Sweet Linda
The outpour of love for Linda and concern for her family has truly been overwhelming and heartwarming. Words like sweet, kind, and thoughtful describe her well. If I may I would like to add a few from my own perspective.
You might say I was the bookends of Linda’s adult life. We met 51 years ago when she and Danny were just 21. Actually my wife Elaine and Linda met first in an amateur theater production. Danny and I were in the Army but in different units at separate posts in Panama so we did not know each other before. The four of us became good friends because we had so much in common and there were few other couples our age. We were young, childless, and on a great adventure thousands of miles away from our homes and families in Oklahoma and Texas. We spent much of our off duty time together going to the beaches, movies, shopping, clubs, or just playing cards and other games.
Sadly our time together in that tropical paradise was short lived. Danny finished his enlistment and he and Linda returned home. I moved on to another assignment in Vietnam while my wife, pregnant with our daughter Elan, returned to Texas. Before we parted we made a pact to always look out for each other if ever needed.
A year later when I came home one of the first things we did was to go to Oklahoma. For the next several years back and forth visits were a regular event. Right off you might think that would be a problem in football season. When they came down for the Cotton Bowl with tickets and wearing red we would dress in neutral colors and take our chances with ticket scalpers, never knowing where our seats would be.
Gradually with the pressures of growing families, finishing school, and starting careers these visits waned then ceased. We still exchanged cards and letters for a while but there was little time for anything else. 20 years later I received an invitation to Tracy’s wedding. That was when I learned that Danny had tragically passed away. I went to the wedding and we had a good visit and promised to keep in touch.
That did not happen until another 20 years. My wife Elaine had recently passed away and I went to Oklahoma to tell Linda. This time we did keep in touch. That was when I really learned of the sacrifices Linda had made and the challenges she faced as a young widow raising and nurturing her teenage daughters. You can see how well she did with these beautiful and successful ladies. The same love and care was heaped upon her talented grandchildren and they have thrived.
Now when I said we kept in touch I should be more clear. Linda bombarded me with cards and two-dollar bills and phone calls for the next 3 years. She might have thought I was playing hard to get, and I was really flattered, but not ready for the next step. That changed in 2016 when she invited me to a Mardi Gras party. I thought that would be fun and get me out of my self-imposed rut and exile. It was fun even though it was held in the cafeteria of the assisted living home where Linda was then residing, not on Bourbon Street. But I was hooked. I became a regular visitor almost every weekend. We had a lot of catching up to do.
On Easter Sunday in 2016 I asked Linda why she had never remarried in those 28 years since Danny had passed away. She took that as a proposal and 2 weeks later we were married. We went to the courthouse on a Monday morning, got the license, Linda lined up a minister, Tracy and Tiffany somehow put together decorations, refreshments, guests, and entertainment by the grandkids and by 6 PM we were hitched. That’s what you might call a whirlwind romance, 47 years in the making. We never regretted it for a moment.
Before Linda would agree to move to my home in Texas I had to find a suitable hairstylist for her. That was not an easy task and there were a couple of unfortunate setbacks and I can’t ever show those photos. Linda was a lady in every respect. She would not leave the house unless her wardrobe was perfectly coordinated and the flower in her hair matched. She also required sparkly shoes and accessories. Her appearance always garnered lots of compliments and a couple of times folks even paid for our meals because we were such a “cute old couple.”
Everyone knows how Linda’s smile can brighten anyone’s day. She was endlessly cheerful despite her pain and hardships. She is always the first to hug when meeting a friend or a stranger. That is not something I had ever done until she came back into my life but this curmudgeon has succumbed a few times with family. But I’m not ready for friends or strangers yet, so be forewarned.
We had such great times the past few years. We laughed, we danced, we loved and we traveled. We came back together as if it was always meant to be. A little over a year ago we were able to return to Panama where we first met. It was the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing and as it happened the 4 of us had tent camped on a remote beach that very weekend. We were awakened by a villager gathering firewood and his tinny transistor radio broadcasting the news. In July 2019 we spent 2 nights on that same beach, not quite as remote now, and this time in a thatch roofed cabana. The villager’s grandson was selling souvenir t-shirts.
Our next big adventure was going to be Hawaii, where Linda had never been but where I first met my daughter Elan in July 1970 when she was just 12 weeks old. It was to be a celebration of our 75th anniversary next month. Now before you think I’ve lost my marbles or at least my ability to do math, this is how it was determined. We took the 22 years Linda and Danny were married, added the 48-1/2 for Elaine and me, then the 4-1/2 Linda and I have been together and that makes 75. If the trip fell through we were going to have a party instead and invite everyone with a reminder that 75 is the Diamond Anniversary and nice expensive gifts were expected.
It has been my honor and great joy to have known Linda, shared a part of her life, and taken care of her, and loved her all these years. So, Farewell, Sweet Linda. Know that as your soul departs for a well-deserved rest, you are loved and admired by family and friends and by every life you touched.
I will miss you so much.
Michael
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/30/2020 10:55PM by M C Toyer.