1996 - Heartache and strain; Open heart surgery; Noah off to Brown, “On the Beach” – a Florida family move
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Time was getting short for getting out.
In the United States Public Health Service, unlike the other uniformed services, one could obtain retirement only after working for 20 years. Paul was approaching 11 years. Despite multiple awards, working on the Surgeon General’s Report, and being awarded for developing a model of efficiency with his seven-state program, his whistleblowing looked to bring only more restrictions and retaliatory assignments. It was clearly time to fish or cut bait.
They went fishing, fishing for a new job, a new home. Again.
From Fresno and Bakersfield to Charleston South Carolina and Phoenix, they settled on Paul creating a new program for a healthcare System in central Florida.
Linda had health problems. 1982, during medical school, while Linda was pregnant with Jared, Paul lying in bed with her heard a loud heart murmur even without a stethoscope, a whooshing whisper as she breathed contained within his arms. A heart specialist that once took care of her father evaluated Linda, telling her she had mitral valve prolapse, but would have no problem and live a long, normal life. Relieved, she and they did just that. But Paul learned the old physician was being kind, and after almost 20 years the valve was giving way.
A leaky valve, the heart too large and unable to move the blood forward: Carolyn Mysss might find symbolism in that, an emotional heart which had been so big and focused on others now could not move her forward, and things were starting to back up.
Linda did her research. She would not accept a mechanical or porcine valve replacement if she could help it. A surgeon at the Cleveland clinic, world-famous for a lateral approach through the ribs (instead of a split sternum), put in a ring around the valve to tighten it up, but left her with her own native valve and no need for lifelong anti-coagulation.
Noah and Paul took Linda to Cleveland for her surgery, Grandma staying with Jared and Alia.
Applying to local universities and well-known progressive (expensive) schools, it was unclear what Noah wanted. Someone encouraged him to essentially “apply for the sky,” shoot the moon, see if something beyond his sights or expectations materialized. His subsequent application to Brown required an essay.
Noah began his application Personal Statement with an image from the newly operable Hubble space Telescope, the Horsehead Nebula star incubator, his allegory for human promise and his own future growth.
He got in. Returning for Linda to recover under Grandma’s care, Alia and Paul took Noah across the country to Providence, Rhode Island to start his college at Brown.
Singing old tunes made real their locations: “The Erie Canal,” “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” and even John Prine’s old “Green River,” all tunes Linda loved as young firebrands and sang to the children on many a drive over the years.
At home, their soon-to-be left-behind home, Linda recovered. A month later, back to Conifer, they packed up their entire house and life and made the move to Florida.
They did not sell Conifer, however. Of that they became ever grateful.
CAUTIONARY ADVISEMENT: This website intends to celebrate Linda’s life, to memorialize her accomplishments and her most elevated self. The Eulogy, the Timeline, and the Themes pages attempt to do that in the best way possible. Additional detail and personal reflections can enrich appreciation of what Linda accomplished yet may feel irrelevant or even controversial to others. To keep the primary focus on what matters most, additional detail is reserved for these Read More pages linked from the Timeline.
Please respect these additional subjective and in-depth accounts as intended to illustrate deeper and perhaps the most admirable aspects of Linda’s humanity, and as part of her partner’s bereavement and healing process. Sections with especially subjective first-person and personal recollections are identified with a note saying: Her Partner’s Personal Perspectives.