Mary Linda Lundgren, 81, passed away on March 11, 2024, in Wylie, Texas. She was born on November 26, 1942 in Chicago, Illinois to Felicia and Harry Lundgren. Linda was a happy and loved child who soon grew into a warm, intelligent, and caring adult. Linda loved to travel. She often said, "Just open the car door and I'm ready to go," no trip was too big or small. In recent years her favorite travel was any place she could go with her beloved wife Sheila, happily completing cruises and road trips together.
Linda's educational journey included attending high school at Bishop Noll Institute in Hammond, Indiana. Linda attended nurses training at St. Margaret's Hospital School of Nursing in Hammond, Indiana, completing her Diploma in Nursing and becoming a Registered Nurse. She then attended DePaul University where she received her BSN and the University of Colorado where she earned both an MSN and a PhD in Clinical Pathophysiology.
Linda spent her early career as an operating room nurse in Chicago and Denver before becoming a full-time professor at Community College of Denver. She developed the college's first operating room technologist program and later taught Human Anatomy, Physiology, and Pathophysiology for students in health occupations and nursing, impacting over 29,000 students during her 30-year tenure. Linda also developed and published her own textbook and lab book for her students to use.
In her leisure time, Linda enjoyed many hobbies and interests including sewing and bead work, Linda was a dedicated foodie and loved trying her wife’s latest kitchen creations or trying the newest restaurant. Linda was most proud of being an active member of Narcotics Anonymous for 45 years. She will be remembered as a tough and tireless advocate for NA and for contributing to literature and fellowship development at all levels of the fellowship, helping to carry the message of recovery, hope and freedom.
Linda is survived by her wife, Sheila Mucklow, and their two dogs, Missy and Nugget. Linda is also survived by their closest friends Brenda and Erin Jones-Eastlick, as well as Linda’s cousins, Sheila’s extended family of siblings, nieces and nephews and friends across the country. Linda is preceded in death by her two sons Anthony and Michael, her mother, Felicia, and father, Harry.
A personal note from Sheila:
Today my heart is broken apart. My beloved Linda left her body in the early morning of 3/11/23.
Linda had been through a lot this year and especially in the last few weeks. Monday morning, she set herself free. She told me she wasn't afraid to die. She just did not want to leave me, leave us. I believe she tried to stay as long as she could.
Linda was alert and talking with me until the end and right before she passed, she told me she loved me and gave me a last kiss; my heart broke open with a love so strong and deep it filled every fiber of my being. I rest in this, grateful for the fullness, richness and depth of her love for me and I for her. I think of Linda and how my love had grown with her. I am grateful for all that we had together. I have no idea what is ahead. I am still waking to the realization that she will not physically hug me, dance with me, or walk through life with me as she did.
When I think of her, I feel pure, deep love. I know it is colored in mourning, which I imagine I will experience for some time. When I tune into her now, I feel joy and I sense she is free, and I celebrate this for her but will greatly miss her physical presence.
What I believe with all my being is that she is not gone, but lives within each of us she has touched. her love, her wisdom, her compassion, lives on. I feel that she is right here, within me and for that I am deeply grateful.
A celebration of Linda's life will be held at a future date. Turrentine-Jackson-Morrow in Allen, Texas is assisting with the funeral arrangements.