I grew up mostly in rural Missouri, with short periods of time spent near Las Vegas, Nevada, and in northern Arkansas.

I worked for many years as a nurse's aid in a 50 bed hospital. I often worked in the OB and newborn nursery wing, and took care of many laboring mothers through delivery and then cared for the babies afterward, mostly on the night shift when staffing was low and we had a high level of responsibility for our patients.

I eventually moved on to working in the purchasing department of that hospital, and became the Purchasing Assistant. I learned to work with vendors and to order, receive, handle and deliver medical supplies as needed to all departments.

In 2006 I moved to Washington to attend the 9 month college level naturalist training program called Anake at Wilderness Awareness School, intending to go back to the Midwest and work, perhaps, with a program like Becoming An Outdoors-woman, or Women in the Outdoors. In the meantime, after I graduated, WAS needed a bookkeeper/business manager and they hired me to take on the job, and I've been there ever since.

Wilderness Awareness School runs weekly programs for ages 4-adult, and we put nearly 2000 kids through summer camps in the Seattle area last year - winning our 5th Golden Teddy award from ParentMap magazine.

I'm also a graduate of our Tracking Intensive program, earning a Level 3 certification in Track and Sign from CyberTracker Conservation. I continue to work on my class project, which is a study of foot morphology and tracks of domestic dogs. One day I'll have enough data for a field guide.

So why am I leaving such a great job?

I'm not nearly liberal enough to continue to live in western Washington. There's a certain amount of stress involved in just being a politically conservative, Christian here. I like to shoot skeet and hunt. I don't like high density human populations and the traffic that comes with that. Given the chance to move to Council, I didn't hesitate. I'm a small town girl at heart, and I so look forward to getting moved in and settled in.

[Lisa here.] I will add that Linda is an avid reader and has enough books to start her own private library. She loves to knit - often with her cat Spanky in her lap - and is a student of herbs and how they can be used as natural alternatives to traditional medications and treatments. I would call her an herbalist, but I'm not sure she would consider herself as such.

I will tell you that Linda loves the Lord, is an active servant in her church, is a plain-spoken, drama-free woman of integrity and wisdom, and will be an amazing addition to Council and Rascal Ranch Daycare and Preschool. She is a special addition to my life, and I am blessed to call her my friend.