Linda Carlson

Linda Carlson

AFPBP-22

Linda Carlson

Karen Musgrave

2/22/08

Nancy O'Bryant Puentes

Mexico, Missouri

Kim Greene

Note: Due to Internet problems no communication occurred on February 21, 2008.

Karen Musgrave (KM): I am conducting a Quilters' S.O.S. - Save Our Stories interview with Linda Carlson for the Alzheimer's Forgetting Piece by Piece Q.S.O.S. Since Linda lives in Mexico, Missouri and I live in the Naperville, Illinois, we are conducting this interview by e-mail. Linda thanks so much for taking time to do this interview with me. Please tell me about your quilt “I’m Going Home Now.”

Linda Carlson (LC): I first made this Seminole lap quilt for my mother-in-law, Doretta Carlson as she sat in her wheelchair at one of the first assisted living homes where she lived in 1988 in Omaha, Nebraska. She could still get up and move around on her own, but at certain times of the day, she would be wheeled to other parts of the home for various activities. Since she never considered wearing anything but a dress and hose, she would get chilly even during the summer with air conditioning. Sweaters would keep her upper body warm, but she would say her legs and feet would get cold. The quilt was my first attempt at machine piecing, and since Seminole piecing was "in", I decided to make the quilt just for this purpose. I hand quilted it with Egyptian-like lilies one would see in a museum setting. For the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative, I thought rather than create a new piece commemorating Doretta's battle with the disease, I would embellish the actual quilt that lovingly wrapped her body to ensure the warmth I had for her from so far away in miles so she could enjoy it's physical warmth.

The center photo transfer in the quilt reads: ‘I’m Going Home Now!’

My dear Mother-in-Law, Doretta Carlson's last years were exactly how she prayed they would not be: coping with "Old Timer's Disease"; senile dementia/Alzheimer’s. When at her daughter's for Sunday dinner, she would say, 'I want to go home.'

Jean and Stan Parker would say the name of the facility where she lived, but that wasn't where she was talking about. I recall when we visited during one of those moments; we'd ask,’ Do you mean the house on 79th Street? The Benson Senior apartments on Military? Your apartment at New Cassel?’

No, that wasn't right either. The night before she passed from this life, Jean and Stan visited. Jean knew the moment she walked in the room, Doretta was excited, her eyes sparkling. She asked, 'Well, how are you?'

With a big smile, her mother answered, 'I'm going home now'!

'How do you know?' Jean cautiously asked, feeling the little hairs on the back of her neck rising.

'Because they're waiting for me.'

'Who?'

'Mom and Sis are waiting for me', Doretta said, still grinning with glee.

Jean managed to recover somewhat, and said, 'Well, that will be a great reunion.' She and Stan always played tapes of Mom's favorite childhood hymns because they calmed her when she was agitated and frightened by her failing cognitive skills. They fed her what dinner she would eat before she closed her eyes. Jean asked, 'Are you ready to go to sleep?'

Doretta peacefully replied, 'Yes, I'm ready now.'

In the middle of the night, Doretta went HOME; to Mom and Sis, Fritz, the father-in-law I never knew, and her four brothers. Her last night on earth was a miracle for Jean and Stan to witness when one realizes for the past few years, Doretta had great difficulty forming coherent thoughts, let alone complete sentences.

The appliquéd angel contains the following information:
‘I'm Going Home Now!
Doretta E. Carlson
9-3-1905 to 1-3-1999
Recycling the 1988 Seminole lap quilt for Doretta as she sat in a wheelchair for this exhibit: a gift she touched with loving but confused hands. While the photos show her many "homes," braided ribbon and hairy yarn represent how Alzheimer brain cells went "haywire" in reference to those homes.
May the labor of my hands ease the grief in my heart and yours, too!’

KM: What are your plans for this quilt when it returns to you?

LC: I honestly haven't thought about that, but I may donate it to our Dialysis Center here where our guild provides lap size quilts to warm the patients as they receive treatment. Another choice would be to donate it to Ami's [Simms.] AAQI [Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Imitative.] site for bidding to raise funds for Alzheimer's research. I suppose the latter would be more appropriate if Ami accepts items larger than the 9 [inches.] by 12 [inches.] Priority Quilts. But perhaps more importantly, someone in the Carlson family will want me to keep it as a personal tribute to Doretta in view of the fact that it was accepted and featured in a book, and has traveled for more than 3 years where thousands of people have seen and read about her journey through Alzheimer's. If I did keep it, I would specify in my will that someone in the family take care of it and/or donate it to an appropriate place.

KM: Since you mentioned Priority Quilts which are another project of the Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative, have your participated? Have you seen the exhibit? If so, tell me about your impressions.

LC: I haven't yet been able to make a Priority Quilt, but in 2006, I gave a lecture in St. Louis, Missouri, "Quilting To Soothe the Soul" where the exhibit was shown, and asked Ami if I could include her story of inspiration "birthing" and administering the AAQI. I purposely arrived 3 hours before the lecture to be able to view the quilts and read everyone's stories. I was all at once proud to be part of such an outpouring of emotion turned into art as well as humbled by the makers' personal experiences with the disease. More than once, I stood next to a person who wiped their eyes in recognition of the sentiments expressed in a piece. And I found myself giving those people a hug just to let them know I understood. I think viewing the quilts beforehand, made my lecture about how various cultures deal with the joys, celebrations and personal stresses in every day life more meaningful to me and my audience. It's an historical and present day view of how textiles are used to express myriads of emotions. The quilts shown in the PowerPoint presentation range from antique Baltimore Albums honoring decorated soldiers, to religious ministers leaving a community, to 9-11 quilts, to ceremonial burial quilts, to statements on breast cancer, menopause, and the Princess Di [Diane.] white rose, as well as my quilt for Doretta.

KM: Do you have any favorite quilts from the exhibit?

LC: Beyond my quilted gift to Doretta, exhibit favorites include "Leaving Us" by Cheryl Lynch. This piece speaks to me because trees as powerful seasonal images portray time immemorial. "There is a season unto everything" is a paraphrase from the Bible. "Sundown" by Beth Hartford reminds me so much of Sunday afternoons when we'd visit Doretta at my sister-in-law's home whenever we came to Omaha. Doretta would start asking, ‘Where am I going now? I want to go home.’ I would say, ‘We're taking you to your apartment at New Cassel, or the Benson Towers, or the Lutheran Home,’ wherever she was living at the time. She would say, ‘But I want to go home.’ It was as if she was confused as to which building we were taking her to, but of course, it wasn't until the night before she died on January 3, 1999, that we knew what she'd been talking about for more than 10 years. "Women Who Were" by Sonia M. Callahan could be a scene where I saw Doretta folding clothes in one of the activity rooms at the next to last assisted living home she lived in. Residents welcomed this "chore" which gave them some of their self-esteem back, to be 'useful' once again, not just a financial or emotional burden to their families. This quilt also reminds me that Doretta lost this recreational activity when she became incontinent too often and had to go to another "home" that could provide for more advanced Alzheimer patients.

KM: I have to say from looking at the photo transfers of Doretta on your quilt, she does look like she was a wonderful, upbeat woman. Tell me about the photos you selected. Also is this quilt typical of your style? Would someone looking at this quilt say, ‘This is a Linda Carlson quilt.’?

LC: The photos were selected because they were different homes where Doretta lived starting with her teen years home in the 1920’s, (she was born in 1905 in Schickley Nebraska.), then beside it, the home she and my husband's father built in Omaha, Nebraska. No, this quilt wouldn't be recognized as my style. It was a personal gift to Doretta, and as I said before, my first attempt back in 1988 at machine piecing when Seminole piecing was a very popular quilt setting. I am best known for the 4 block quilts I have made or those in my antique quilt collection as samples for my 3 books on that style/set. And now that I have designed my second line of fabric for Benartex, Inc. along with my twin sister, Diana Henage, I am known as "Grammie" of "Grammie & Mimi's Baby Geniuses!" collections.

KM: There is a CD of the exhibit where all the artists can be heard telling about their quilts. Tell me about your experience doing the recording.

LC: I practiced reading my quilt story aloud so I could hear how fast I was reading, and to ensure the correct voice inflection that I wanted to get across to the listeners. It wasn't easy because there were parts that made me choke up even while reading it silently. Especially the part where in hearing my sister-in-law Jean's reply, 'Well, that will be a great reunion!' I knew as soon as she told me that what was coming next because Doretta hadn't been able to put two coherent words together for a very long time. I'd done enough research for my third book about quiltmaking becoming a such stress reducing activity that sometimes people who are about to die, know it and are able to express themselves in ways they couldn't before the revelation. I don't mean that all who are non-verbal are able to speak one last time, I mean they are able to communicate in some meaningful way.

KM: Let’s move into discussing your involvement in quiltmaking. Tell me about your interest in quiltmaking.

LC: My interest in quiltmaking was by 'subliminal osmosis', if you will, from my paternal Grandmother, Melinda Adelaide Redeker Giesler. I say that with half a tongue in cheek because I can remember visiting the farm for a week or two each summer and sleeping under a favorite red embroidered quilt with endearing childhood type blocks. There were other quilts too, of course, but that's the only one I remember, although I have a tremendously heavy log cabin coverlet she and her mother, Margarethra Adeline Redeker made from men's suitings. My quiltmaking days started in 1975 when I was pregnant with my first child, Amy Lynne Carlson Nord. I hand appliquéd and embroidered a baby circus quilt kit. My husband, John, had been in medical school 3 months when she was born, so I had to return to teaching elementary school to 'put beans on the table' as he's so fond of saying to our younger daughter, Meredith Melinda, now 26. My mother, Emma Jean Lemon Giesler thought I should have something to keep me busy while John was in school, so she paid the fee for a beginning quilt class. Gosh, I thought I was busy enough with an infant and teaching school full time, too! As a result of the class, I made an hand appliqué Ernie of Muppet fame pillow and a Weather Vane block pillow. Since John went on to become a Pathologist, he calls my resulting addiction to quilting, "Quilticus Pathologicus"; the end stage is when you start collecting antique quilts!

I became intrigued and wonderfully obsessed with the large 4-block antique quilts I found in books, magazine and museum collections; erroneously thinking how quickly one could be made because there was only 4 blocks to make! Naively, I didn't consider the amount of piecing, appliqué or quilting would go into that small number of blocks let alone the borders either! But passion is passion, so I started to wonder about any possible historical ethnicity and perhaps geographical origin of this particular style/set in quilts. The first State quilt research culminated in the 1983 Kentucky project. From then until my first book on these quilts was published by AQS in 1994, “Roots, Feathers, & Blooms: 4-Block Quilts, Their History & Patterns,” I researched the search projects from the first 13 colonies to become states plus Washington, D.C., and museums where research was lacking. In 1995 I was invited to speak about these quilts at the "What's American About American Quilts" seminar at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Then in 1996, my 4-block antique collection plus those I had made were in an exhibit called, "Grand and Glorious: The Bold and Beautiful 4-Blocks Quilts of the Linda Carlson Collection" at the Museum of American Quilters' Society in Paducah, Kentucky. The second book, “4-Blocks Continued ...” was published by AQS in 1998 and included 14 quilts I had made or were in my antique collection. In 1993, my Dad, Frederick Herman Giesler died while I was working on the weeping willow Trapunto border of a quilt for Meredith. This event led me to pursue my interest of celebratory and memorial quilts in the direction of wanting to know how other people used textiles to soothe their sorry souls. I researched this topic for more than eight years before my third book, “Quilting To Soothe The Soul: Create Memories For Yesterday,” “Today & Forever” by Krause Publications. Because of popular demand, in 2004 AQS published a partial combination of my first two books on 4-block quilts including the history plus new patterns in, “The Best of 4-Blocks ... And More!” Today, half of my antique 4-block quilt collection belongs to the International Quilt Study Center in Lincoln, Nebraska. They will eventually receive the rest as well as my memorial antique quilts.

Finally, perhaps the real end stage of Quilticus Pathologicus is designing your own fabric! I did brain based research because as a former elementary teacher, I knew certain colors and graphics stimulated infant and toddler’s brain synapses to grow. My twin sister, Diana Henage, had a B.S. degree in Art Education, as well as a Specialist Degree in Gifted Education. Armed with my information, and the fact that she was retiring after 30 years, we shared the drawing and painting duties and our first collection, "Grammie & Mimi's Baby Geniuses!" by Benartex, Inc. was born. My grandkids Emma & Jack Nord call me "Grammie", and Diana is called "Mimi" by Alayna Henage, Hannah and Zeke Opie. Our second line premiers at Spring Market 2008, and is called, "Grammie & Mimi's Baby Geniuses Grow Up!" I can't tell you how fulfilling it is to see your name on the selvage knowing your life's passion turned career has come full circle! I wouldn't doubt every quilting teacher secretly harbors seeing their name on that 1/4 inch strip of woven threads!

KM: What advise would you offer someone starting out?

LC: WOW! That's a loaded question that could be interpreted as ranging from someone just wanting to learn how to make a quilt all the way to wanting to be a traveling workshop teacher, quilt book author or fabric designer! I'll start with the easiest first and talk in the first person as if I'm face to face with her or him.

If you want to make a quilt, peruse the quilt shops and library for books and magazines to find that quilt you can't live without and must recreate to fit your decor. Ask the shop teachers and/or join a guild for guidance, or take a beginning quilt class if the quilt you've fallen in love with seems a bit too advanced for your skills right now. You'll be surprised at how quickly you'll learn once you have an ultimate goal to work towards!

If you want to be a contractual traveling workshop teacher, make sure your teaching skills are honed at home first. Just because the short cuts in construction perfection you may do on your own work is acceptable to you doesn't mean they would be acceptable to guild members or shop owners where you may teach a class. Even if your work is impeccably made doesn't mean you can teach that to others. "Teaching" is totally different from "telling". Be honest in asking yourself if you can teach techniques in more than one way because some students are oral learners and others are aural learners, meaning some can read and understand directions while others need someone else to teach them, they can "hear" directions better than reading for themselves. So if you're sure your teaching skills are ready, consider the life style you're getting into; being self-employed when you get contracts one to three years ahead of time is a risky financial plan to say the least. If this isn't a problem for you, also consider the time spent away from your family if you have one, the time spent in preparation for leaving town, the grueling travel schedules you might get yourself into to try to make ends meet that month, etc., etc., etc. Some inexperienced "road" teachers I've met have the mistaken idea that the rest of us are traveling and seeing the entire world, and are on luxurious vacations getting to follow our passions for quiltmaking. The reality is unless you are independently wealthy to get to the teaching venue early and/or stay late, rent a car and book extra hotel nights to site see, you actually just fly in to the gig and fly out to go home to get ready for the next job. The hiring organization isn't paying you to see the sites. This is an occupation just like any other, and there are pitfalls for every job. Don't get me wrong, I love what I do, and have made many good friends, seen their part of the world, but there are millions of people who love their particular jobs, too. Just because my passion for quilts is your passion too, doesn't mean you should believe I have the best job in the world and want to make it yours. Everyone should be able to find their niche in the world, but don't envy someone else's unless you have a burning, can't be denied desire to do the same thing no matter what. Which brings me to my last token of advice in this area: be professional from the very beginning by creating a brochure of what you teach personally deliver it to local and nearby quilt shops along with samples of your work. Teaching on the local and in-state area will earn you your 'stripes' of experience in dealing with all sorts of students, not just friends and acquaintances in your home guild. Make sure your pattern directions are professional in appearance and accuracy. (I still routinely offer a free workshop to my guild membership just to try out a new class, pattern and all.) When you feel you've had as much local experience as you can get, do your homework on what a quilting teacher's web site should contain, then create one to advertise nationally and internationally if you are willing to travel that far. Make use of the quilt magazine ads for quilt shows and conferences. Inquire as to teaching proposal packet submissions, then follow their instructions implicitly. Don't forget to include recommendations from the guilds and shops where you've taught. Create a biography and resume' of yourself, your quilting education classes with other teachers, and your teaching jobs. Hiring groups want to know how you got to where you are in your career. Above all, be realistic in your expectations. A successful traveling teacher career doesn't happen overnight. Be patient so the word can get around, but also be your own advocate. And Good Luck!! I've taught something since I was a sophomore in high school teaching piano lessons! Teaching gets in your blood because there's nothing like witnessing that light bulb in the brain come on! Sometimes it's like the new energy saving bulbs that slowly get brighter, but in the end, it's a wonderful feeling knowing you opened the doors to a person's creativity.

My advice to those of you who want to write a book is to research, research, and research more than you think anyone wants to know about the subject! Then and only then, contact publishers who have published books on similar subjects without having produced one on the very same subject. For instance, after AQS published my two books on 4 block quilts, they were contacted by a teacher who proposed a slightly different approach. Their answer was a polite no since the manuscript wasn't that different. Unless your manuscript is on a completely new style quilt or technique, make sure your subject has a new or better twist or technique that would let the buyer know they need your book to enhance their skills. It should speak to their level of competence in furthering their skills more than the books they have at home. And finally, if you have a burning desire to create fabric designs, research the market to see what's NOT in the market, what's missing that quiltmakers need in their stashes to make them complete. (HA! Is a stash ever complete?) You won't always be able to submit designs of your favorite fabric styles, and the company's bottom line is sales. Having said the obvious, some designers have degrees in fabric design, and are lucky enough to draw and paint gorgeous motifs already and not care as much about what's missing in the market. Fabric companies may hire them because their beautiful work fits in well with their particular offerings. If you are turned down by one company, submit your work to another whose "look" may be more in tune with your designs. How do you approach fabric companies? Call and ask for design submission guidelines. Never send your work unsolicited or unannounced anywhere, and this advice goes to would be authors, too. If Spring or Fall Markets are near you, arrange interviews with company presidents and marketing directors. If you get a firm nod of approval, make sure you personally cancel your other appointments. The last thing any company wants is for potential designs to be seen by other companies. Everyone wants to be the only kid on the block to have the latest toy. Which brings me to one last point: there are literally tons of fabric in the market to the point of over saturation. Production costs have sky rocketed just like everything else, and you know that because the days of $4/yd. fabric are long gone, and you know that if you really love a piece, you buy way more than a 1/4 yard knowing when it's gone, there won't be any reordering. You need to know going in that you aren't going to get rich quick. But then again, being rich to me in the quilting world is seeing my name with Diana's on that 1/4 inch selvage of woven threads!

KM: Wow! You did the most complete job in answering this question of anyone I’ve ever asked. Whose works are you drawn to and why?

LC: This is a really tough question because I'm very eclectic in what I'm drawn to, which is why I think I don't have a hard time judging shows. More often than not, I'm asked to be part of a judging team with the organizers thinking they need to pigeon hole us as maybe one who is a traditionalist, one whose work is contemporary and one who could represent the "art quilt" entrant. At the risk of getting off on a tangent, I've studied judging, taken classes, and continue to subscribe to magazines that feature styles I'm not creating in my studio. That said, as a judge I've found myself giving my judge's favorite award to quiltmakers who create pieces totally different from my own style. One was to Phil Beaver who does magnificent raw edge machine appliqué. Hollis Chatelaine's pictorial work speaks to me on an emotional level as high as her perfect execution of thread use and paint mediums. Outside of creating quilts for a living, her subject matter always has a humanitarian undercurrent bringing a cultural fact or need for the world at large to recognize, or the subject begs the viewer to contemplate the human condition. Although her work IS beautiful and flawlessly executed, she is able to give a voice to her quilts. I know of no one else who is able to do that as well. Diane Gaudynski's machine quilting skills are about as perfect in motif selection, stitch and design balance as I'll ever see, while Sue Nickels and sister Pat Holly's collaborative efforts in machine appliqué always leave me in awe as to how their work compliments one another's vision of the final piece. They have the ability to 'make me smile' when I study their subject matter, color choices and playful but motif enhancing machine quilting. And last but not least, Sally Collins miniature machine piecing skills are just jaw dropping excellent!

Thinking about this naturally leads me to think about the teacher's I've had who made me want to emulate their particular fortes. Charlotte Angotti's class humor and ability to relax students is in a league of its own. She's just a bowl full of fun! I've seen her have an audience rolling in the aisles of the hottest, non air conditioned auditorium one could regretfully imagine! Elly Sienkiewicz and Sue Nickels are the kindest and nicest people let alone teachers, who put nothing above their students' needs. It was one of my ultimate experiences and privileges of just being a regular student in their classes even though I was a traveling teacher, too. Joen Wolfram has the ability to pull out thousands of facts about color and design, and present in such a way completely off the cuff yet totally coherent and comprehensive, that I marvel she still can quote each slides' maker and date without any notes whatsoever! Jackie Robinson's ability to keep a class of 25 students of various skill levels on task in the same place while helping individuals is teaching 'par excellence'! Each section was timed down to the minute so that everyone was almost completely done with the project, and would be able to finish at home because they'd been led through each part with total understanding even though they may not have completed that section. The real clincher for me was that she allowed the last 10 minutes to show possible quilting choices and then demonstrate how to create and attach binding! Talk about thorough! All these outstanding teachers are my heroes as well as others.

KM: What do you think is the biggest challenge confronting quiltmakers today?

LC: My gut reaction to this question is a tie between finding time to pursue quiltmaking without feeling as if they are sacrificing heirloom beauty for "quick & easy" to finish, and the costs of pursuing this love of quiltmaking from materials, to tools, to machines. Secondly, I'm concerned that beginning quilters are not finding widely available hand appliqué or hand piecing classes in their local shops or shows. It seems to me shops are missing an opportunity to show students how portable handwork is in their busy lives; that they can actually work on their projects while traveling by car or sitting at soccer practices, etc. Heck, I can even tell you which airports and teaching trips where I finished appliqué blocks and borders while away from home and didn't have to lug a machine around! It gladdens me to know large shows are once again giving awards to hand executed pieces, which in turn, will encourage students to enter those categories. I've been around long enough to remember the gradual but ever increasing swing of the pendulum from hand made quilts to machine made quilts. I'm hoping that it swings back to middle ground. I've also judged shows long enough to recall separate categories for hand appliquéd and quilted or hand pieced and quilted versus those hand made but machine quilted. As the large shows honor “hand made", I'm sure local shows will once again follow suit, slowly, but it's the right thing to do in bringing the industry full circle without alienating the economy of machine sales which have been around since the 1860s when machines became affordable to many women.

KM: Why is quiltmaking important to you?

LC: Quiltmaking to me is and always has been my legacy to my future familial generations. They will be able to touch the quilts that I made with my hands just like I am able to touch the quilts made by my Grandmother Giesler and Great-grandmother Redeker, whom I never knew. I envision the part of the Cistine Chapel where Michelangelo painted "God Created Adam"; I liken the almost touching finger tips of God and Adam to me reaching out to my future generations and hopefully, them wanting to reach back to me by touching the quilt I made.

My legacy to future quiltmakers and historians are the books I've researched and written, and the antique quilts I've collected and lovingly cared for. I'm confident that the International Quilt Study Center in Lincoln, NE will vigilantly continue to research the origins of those without documented provenance, and provide state of the art care and conservation.

On a very personal note, quiltmaking has always provided me with an artistic outlet that ends with a tangible product. Although I have a degree in Vocal Music, and play the piano reasonably well, the end product is gone when the music ends. Singing and playing fulfill a need to make and hear joyful sound, but the product fades too quickly. I thoroughly enjoy the process of making music, but need to take more than a good feeling away from the experience. Both quiltmaking and making music have soothed my sorry soul though, too. When my Dad died in 1993, I was able to stitch and sob, or play some of his favorite songs. Both helped me think about all the wonderful times we had together as children and adults. This year, I turned to my needle when I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer. When Gerry Roy asked for volunteers to participate in his 1810 fabric Challenge, I chose to do a piece portraying four eras of dresses from 1810 to 2008 where all the models had visible breast tumors appliquéd on their costumes. In the center where the 4 blocks meet is a "Wild Woman" breast cancer fighter pin. I named the piece, "Wild Men & Women Reproduce Fabric, Not Breast Cancer Cells!" So quiltmaking has also afforded me the opportunity to speak out just as it has for all quiltmakers who choose this textile medium to voice their opinions.

KM: Before we end our time together, I’d like to offer you the opportunity to share anything else that you would like to see included in the interview.

LC: I would like to say I am infinitely grateful for being given the opportunity to participate in the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative, not only because it is a means of raising research money to find a cure or means of prevention, but also because it allowed me to show the world what a wonderful mother-in-law Doretta had always been. Even when she couldn't talk, I knew she was glad to see and greet me with her infectious smile. It pains me to know she didn't get to experience "her quilt" being on the cover of a book let alone have her story portrayed inside, and the quilt that kept her warm travel to hundreds of shows where people would see it and identify with it emotionally. Participating in this exhibit and deciding to use the lap quilt that she touched was therapy for me in my healing journey to recall all the beautiful moments we had from the morning after I married her son to hear her say, ‘Did you sleep well, Honey?’ to ‘You clean your plate. You're carrying my grandchild!’, to getting that 3 a.m. phone call on January 3, 1999 to let us know "she had finally gone Home!"

Thanks Karen for all your patience, expertise and long distance friendship in this interview!

KM: Linda, thank you. You did a great job and I’m so happy that we were able to spend this time together and that we are united in this great cause. Our interview concluded on February 22, 2008.