Linda Carol Mercer

Linda Carol Mercer was born in Dayton, Ohio, and grew up in a small house where everyone came through the kitchen door. She married David in 1968, and together they raised Amy and Brian. Linda spent more than twenty years working in the office at a local elementary school. She knew which children needed an extra minute, kept safety pins and peppermints in her desk, and rarely let anyone leave without feeling heard. At home, she saved recipes in a crowded wooden box, packed too much food for every camping trip, and sat through years of ball games in the same folding chair. Her family remembers Sunday pancakes, grocery lists written on old envelopes, phone calls that always ran long, and the way she laughed before she reached the end of her own stories. She loved David, her children, and her grandchildren in practical, everyday ways: rides to appointments, casseroles in borrowed dishes, birthday cards mailed early, and a light left on when someone was coming home late.