Linda Sutherland

Linda Sutherland could find the humor in everything. She was an incredibly easygoing, fun-loving lady, whose life didn’t have a soundtrack, it had a laugh track! In good times and bad, Linda loved to laugh, yet her love for her family couldn’t have been more serious. Above all, she was a loving wife, mother, grandmother and friend, whose love and laughter lives on in them today.

Linda’s story began on a hot summer day in 1945, a day that would forever be known as the day World War II came to an end. On August 14, 1945, his country devastated by two atomic bombs, Japanese Emperor Hirohito agreed to surrender to Allied forces, and Americans celebrated their costly victory. The same day, Ossian and Dorothy (Babbitt) Moses had even more reason to celebrate in the little town of Gobles, Michigan, with the birth of a beautiful baby girl, a daughter they named Linda Kay.

Linda was joined by her big sister Lois in the family’s home in Gobles, where her parents owned and operated the Gobles News. Linda led a good and fairly typical childhood, apart from her learning to play the accordion as a little girl! She enjoyed it as a youngster, yet it became a source of embarrassment for her when she got older, and she didn’t like to admit she played it! (And she’d probably deny it even now, too!).

Eventually she found other things to occupy her time, though, and grew into a pretty, fun-loving young woman at Gobles High School. She made many good friends there, and had plenty of laughs before graduating in 1963.

After she graduated, Linda grew up fast. She met a young man, got married, and before she knew it, she was the proud parent of two fine boys, Larry and Mark, who filled her with happiness. Her husband bought Plainwell Lanes, and Linda became an integral part of the bowling alley, bartending at the lanes for the better part of eight years, when she wasn’t raising her sons. With her quick wit and easygoing demeanor, she was a favorite among the regulars, of course.

Linda’s marriage eventually ended, though she wasn’t meant to remain alone for long. One day in the late 1970s, she met a wonderful man named Gary Sutherland, and the sparks flew between them. They began dating, fell in love, and soon started living together, the beginning of a beautiful relationship, and so many wonderful years.

Linda began working in various retail stores, first at Montgomery Ward (until it closed), then Gilmore’s (until it closed) and lastly at Kmart in Plainwell (until – you guessed it – it closed, too). Linda always got a good laugh that she closed a lot of businesses!

Of course, Linda was far from all work and no play. She was a woman who loved life, and loved a good laugh better than anyone. She enjoyed floating in her pool at her home, whiling away sunny summer days, or going boating on her pontoon out at Gun Lake, too. She loved hopping on the back of Gary’s Honda motorcycle, as the two of them took off down the road, destination unknown. Linda was always game for anything, and would even go fishing with Gary, so long as he baited the hook, and cleaned the day’s catch, too!

Linda and Gary shared a special relationship, and when they finally decided to tie the knot, they did it on the most special day they could think of, one befitting a lady with the sense of humor Linda had. The couple was married on February 29, 1988 — Leap Day! Thus began a beautiful, 20-year marriage (or five years, depending on how you look at it!), one filled with so many wonderful memories, and most of all filled with family.

Foremost in Linda’s life was always her family, and her grandkids brought her more joy than anything in the world. Joel, Jessica, Jenna, Jordan, Meighan and Kyle, who always brought a smile and a laugh to her lips, and who she spoiled rotten at Christmas time. Linda loved getting the whole family together, and being the “instigator” of the bunch, teasing them into teasing each other!

Linda had other loves, she loved to shop at yard sales, or tending to her beloved poodles, who were really her four-legged kids, but family was always first to her. They were the reason she could always laugh, and always smile.

Sadly, Linda died at Borgess Hospital in Kalamazoo on Sunday, October 19, 2008, at the age of 63.

Linda was such a wonderful woman, such a fun-loving, easygoing lady. Linda had an incredible sense of humor, living her life to her own personal laugh track. She was a loving wife, mother, grandmother and friend, but more than anything, she taught us to love our life, and laugh at it, too, just as she always did. She will be greatly missed.

She is survived by her husband Gary Sutherland, two sons: Larry (fiance, Kim Cooper) Areaux and Mark Areaux both of Plainwell; six grandchildren: Joel, Jessica, Jenna, Jordan, Meighan, and Kyle; mother, Dorothy Moses, of Gobles; one sister, Lois (Charles) Bradley, of Gobles; father-in-law, Bernard (Doris) Sutherland, Jr. of Plainwell; sister-in-law, Barb Arcan, of Alamo; nieces and nephews, Christine, David, Laura, Cindy and Luke. She is preceded in death by her father, Ossian Moses; mother-in-law, Ruth Sutherland; and brother-in-law, Grant Sutherland.

Learn more about Linda, view her Life Story film, and visit with her family and friends Tuesday from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Life Story Funeral Home, Plainwell Chapel, 120 S. Woodhams. Funeral services will be held on Wednesday at 1 PM at the same location.

Please visit Linda’s memory page at www.lifestorynet.com, where you can share a favorite memory or photo, sign her memory book online or make a memorial donation to the charity of choice.