Your Remembrances

I am in tears of joy, seeing, feeling and experiencing what you created and knowing just how remarkable she is, always will be……. An Angel walked amongst us, for sure.

I met Linda in Acupuncture school. Her wide openness and contagious friendly character made me sense I had known her lifetimes. Lindas wisdom and zest for adventure was unfathomable to me. She was my spiritual adviser and teacher… a master of manifesting! She showed me Life through a whole different lens and will be forever grateful. I will miss our long talks which were almost always while she was driving to and fro. LOL always on the go. Much love to her VERY Blessed and Beautiful family ….So happy to have been welcomed in your hearts.

Bodhisattva Prayer for Humanity

May I be a guard for those who need protection
A guide for those on the path
A boat, a raft, a bridge for those who wish to cross the flood
May I be a lamp in the darkness
A resting place for the weary
A healing medicine for all who are sick
A vase of plenty, a tree of miracles
And for the boundless multitudes of living beings
May I bring sustenance and awakening
Enduring like the earth and sky
Until all beings are freed from sorrow
And all are awakened.

written by Shantideva, a Buddhist monk of the Mahayana tradition that lived around 700 AD.

I recall such fond memories of Linda from our family’s annual trips to Bedford when I was very, very young. I’ve attached a photo of Linda and I digging for worms to go fishing with Uncle Franklin. Linda’s bedroom was filled with images and figurines of horses. She was mad about horses and she also had a pet duck.

It was then that I realized her profound compassionate nature.

I’ve known Linda for several years as a “rescued” acupuncturist through her InnovAge acupuncture practice. I first met Linda while we were both practicing at the same private office. She was hellbent on ending her private practice to only focus on InnovAge. She was just too busy elsewhere. After a while she wanted me to join since the patients continued to pile on. This was my first encounter with Linda’s generous nurturing personality. Over the years we supported each other and Linda ALWAYS had a new place to travel, CEU to investigate, or the most interesting stories to share. I’ll miss her smile and her kind perspective which I always was able to rely on.

She was an amazing light. By far the most positive person I have ever met. Compassionate and patient and ever so loving to all that had the privilege of knowing her. An amazing being. It is hard for me to phantom that this is not with us. I feel so blessed to have known her.

Oh, Linda, of happy memory. Seeing all those lovely photographs of Linda on high adventures, brings to mind the time we were preparing to evacuate Esmont when Three Mile Island happened. We went to town and purchased back packs, gear to survive on a long trek west through the Blue Ridge Mountains, to safety! I believe Linda could have accomplished that feat without so much as a complaint. She was always cheerful and sympathetic and helpful. A great and trusted friend and a most precious midwife. We all thank her and pray for her happy repose.

A beautiful soul and a wonderful friend. We had so many good times together-dearly missed by many and always in our hearts.

Every year Linda and I would go for dinner to celebrate our birthdays. I would pay her dinner and when it was my birthday she would pay for mine. This was taken at Acres Restaurant on South Broadway in April, 2018 when we were belatedly celebrating Linda’s birthday!

Linda sat next to me all through 3 years of acupuncture school. She was my hippie mama angel and our friendship helped me survive school. We were kindred spirits with a love for adventure. Over the last 25 years, we traveled to China, Nepal, Ireland, Las Vegas and took a Utah road trip. We made so many incredible memories together and I will miss her so much.

I attach a few images from our wedding celebration in London almost 5 years ago. I will always remember how happy she was that day, for us of course but also generally happy that she came, met with my side of the family and shared with us a precious moment in time. I think the photo of her with the glass of champagne says it all!

I will always remember her warmth, keen interest in me and the special efforts she made to meet up with me each time she visited London.

… as Linda grew up in Bedford…I remember a party loooong ago where she wore her Majorette outfit twirling her baton & you had your dr white jacket on with all the organizations you had been involved with (which was substantial)… Just have clear picture of Linda high stepping with her baton from Bedford high school days.

I am so sorry that you lost the love of your life.
I have no magic words to ease your pain.
While searching for a poem to send you, I remembered one of my own
You are not alone.

One question, another
Life races on
Never stopping to breathe
Before she’s gone

Her ways, untame
Like the waves that roll
And push toward shore
Our distant goal

To conquer, unknown
The sands of time
As we reach out her steps we climb

In hopes and prayers
of climbing tall
And holding fast
Lest we should fall

Into a rut so deep and wide
So full of those who seek to hide

From life and love
From joy and grief
Afraid to stand
for any belief

To have the strength
To climb so tall
Unanswered questions
Invisible wall

Which seems at times
To be so big
No height could reach
Not depth could dig

To find the freedom
we desperately seek
And push toward shore
Though we be weak

To find a peace
Where all was grim
Gives us hope
And restores our faith in him.

For the last few months, every time I walk into the family/computer room, I see at eye level an old sheep bone and an eagle’s feather; gifts from animals whose anonymous lives wound up somehow inexorably linked to my own. They were delivered by two souls who are also a singular part of my life, and I cant’ thank them enough.

A quick touch brings to mind their strength, their balance and their independence in the wild. Sometimes these qualities mean more at home than they do in the canyons.

My memories of Linda are very tied up with my Aunt Evelyn, her mom.

We would visit from Durham to Bedford every year. The curvy mountain road meant I always got to ride in the car front seat. We three kids spent the night in the big living room. I can’t remember if the 3 sisters who were UncleFrank’s nieces would spend the night also or would come to visit at the same time.

Gary and Linda were the youngest in a gang of about 8, and it was a lively weekend every year… I remember eating eggs with Linda. That was something I never did at home. I wondered why the eggs were so much better at the Raflo house. Aunt Evie told me it was because her eggs were special; they were rooster eggs. As adults, this became a well remembered joke anytime I was with Evie or Linda.

I can’t remember if Linda visited the Mexican relatives before or after I did. After she married Paul , I often tracked her – from Alaska to Florida to ending up in Denver. When we moved to California, she visited with a 5 or 6 year old Noah and her new baby Jared. (We were so happy when we got to see
Noah more when he briefly lived in San Francisco after graduating from Brown.)

Through the years we talked about family history…and often politics… I was very excited when she and Alia visited our grandmother’s grave in Fayetteville… Linda was intent on visiting Warsaw and convincing me to come. Alas,the pandemic.

Alas, her illness. Such an adventurer and open hearted cousin.