Julie and I have both known Linda for over 25 years, from when she first became a JW, so we decided to write this tribute to her.
We first met Linda in January 1981, when she attended her first ever meeting at our Kingdom Hall. She had been taking the magazines for a few months, since just after she finished University, and had started studying a few weeks before, but this was the first time she had plucked up the courage to attend a meeting. Her parents didn't approve of her associating with the JWs, you see, although they were very nice people.
She was a very shy, quiet girl then, but talking to her it was obvious that she was a very sweet person, gentle and kind, and we fervently hoped that she would eventually become a JW. Her study progressed, and eventually she began attending all the meetings, became an unbaptised publisher, and was baptised. Her parents still weren't happy, as she had given up on her original goal of teaching and instead set her heart on becoming a pioneer, for which she signed up in 1984.
I was a pioneer than, and I worked with Linda many times in the ministry. Julie left school in 1986, and was soon pioneering with us. Linda and Julie also ended up working together, and we shared some joyous experiences, although ill health forced Linda to quit pioneering in 1990. Julie quit in 1993, and I had to give up when my late husband had a stroke in 1995, after 28 years of regular pioneering for me. By then, we were firm friends, and had formed a bond between us that would not be broken until Linda left the Watchtower in 2005, and then only briefly.
My initial instincts about Linda proved to be well founded, she was a very sweet, caring sister, and nothing was too much trouble for her. She had so much love for her brothers and sisters, especially those who fell sick. She had a kind word for everyone, and usually backed her words up with deeds - a true Christian in every sense of the word. When my husband Ron sufferred a stroke, she was so supportive to us, and when he died even more so to me. She would do anything to help others, and she would often put her brothers and sisters needs in front of her own.
We always thought that, after Trevor joined in 1991, there was something special between them., A single brother, particularly one with a well paid job, was always going to be popular in a congregation with several single sisters, and Trev was no exception - I know that one or two tried to chase him, but he ran too fast! He always seemed to like Linda though, and the feeling was mutual, so she was more upset than most when he left the Watchtower in 1999. I was veru disappointed for her myself, I'd hoped for several years that they would end up together, and now that was no longer possible, or so we all thought at the time.
Linda kept in touch with him though, and tried to get him to come back, while many shunned him even though he hadn't then disassociated. I wouldn't have shunned him myself had I seen him, he was very kind to me while he was a JW, and such kindness should not be forgotten, though others that he had helped seem to find it easy enough to forget.
It was a great shock to Julie and I, and the rest of the congregation, when Linda stopped attending meetings and subsequently disassociated in 2005. She was by then my very best friend, and I thought I'd lost her forever. She was kind enough to send some of us, myself and Julie include, a letter explaining her decision. We both still have the letter, and when the gossip started circulating the congregation after her announcement, stories that she had left in shame because she had committed fornication with Trev, I was very upset, and challenged the presiding overseer about it. He was very abrupt, saying it didn't matter whether the rumours were true or not, she deserved a bad reputation for leaving Jehovah. That was the beginning of my doubts. I began to see the congregation for the loveless place it had become, and secretly contacted Linda through a letter to her mother. I visited her and Trev on non meeting nights, secretly of course, and began reading on here and other sites under their direction. I also read Crisis Of Conscience, and this confirmed my doubts. Through all this, Trev and especially Linda were wonderfully kind and supportive to me, but I would have expected nothing less from such beautiful people.
Julie shunned Linda at first, They still worked together, so saw each other a lot. Eventually though, she began talking to her again, and Linda acted as though the months of shunning hadn't happened. She was just as sweet to Julie as she'd been as a JW. Julie was having many doubts herself by then, and once again Linda was supportive, as was Trev. We are both very glad that Linda lived long enough to see Julie find happiness away from the Watchtower with Trev's best friend Gareth, who they introduced her to, and encouraged her to go out with when she first started to fade.
And now this wonderful, sweet, kindly person has gone, and everyone has lost because of it. Trev has lost his wife and soulmate, the woman he loved more than anyone else in his entire life. Julie and I have both lost the very best friend we ever had, and the world has lost one of the most wonderful people ever to have lived. We don't know how any of us will ever get over Linda's passing, I doubt we ever will. She will live on in all our memories for as long as any of us is alive. It seems so very unfair, Trev and Linda waited such a long time for each other, and now this terrible illness has torn them apart so cruelly and so soon.
One of the many things Trev and Linda shared in their brief time together was their love of music, and although they had differrent tastes, there was much that they both liked. Linda was a Carole King fan, whereas Trev's favourites are Bob Dylan and Led Zeppelin. However, they both loved this track, and it was Linda's favourite record of all time. Please listen to it, and whenever you do think of Linda.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cb9u0DHuFdQ
love
Marion and Julie