Linda Glendening ’70

Howard and Helen Marian (Vander Linden) Glendening gave birth to two children: Richard Norman and Linda Kay. They were living in Moline, Illinois when Linda was born on May 12, 1942. In 1947 an employment opportunity for Howard brought them back to Leighton, Iowa where he eventually became president of the Leighton State Bank, formerly known as Farmers Savings Bank.

Linda began education at the Leighton Independent School. She graduated from Pella Community High School in Pella, Iowa with the Class of 1959. She continued in her pursuit of higher education, attending Central College, Wittenburg University, and graduated from Hope College in Holland Michigan in 1970. During the course of those years her studies were interrupted with personal issues but her acumen for knowledge culminated when she received her PhD in Education/Psychological Statistics from Michigan State University.

Linda was employed with the federal government and the District of Columbia as a statistician for 14 years. Following the unexpected death of her father, Howard, in 1985 Linda returned to Pella, Iowa where she and her mother, Helen, shared a residence until her death in 2003. Linda worked as a library assistant at the Pella Public Library for 13 years. She enjoyed reading, quilting, walking, and studying Dutch.

She maintained an independent style of living and found peace with herself following her brief diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. She passed away peacefully on November 28, 2023, at the Hospice of Pella Comfort House in Pella at the age of 81 years. Linda was baptized in the Bethel Wesley United Methodist Church in Moline, Illinois; made profession of her faith at the Ebenezer Reformed Church in Leighton, Iowa; and was a member of the Second Reformed Church in Pella, Iowa.

Linda leaves her brother, Richard and his wife, Mary (Roorda) Glendening and their family.