Linda Kay Johnson-Elliott

Linda Johnson, 74, of Lorane, Oregon, passed away after a four year battle with cancer on June 10, 2024. She is loved and missed. Linda's life was marked by her resourcefulness, and her commitment to her family and faith. She had an infectious charm and was a friend to all. She was an outdoor educator who believed in teachable moments.

Born on Jan 24, 1950, in Fort Wayne, Indiana to Mary and Walter Johnson, Linda had an active childhood with her beloved sisters, Patricia and Beverly. She loved ice-skating at Reservoir Park and summer camp at Franke Park Day Camp. She graduated from South Side High School in 1968, and married Mike Kocks in Sept '68. They had two sons, Brian and Eric, before later divorcing. She worked at various jobs in Fort Wayne, including Classic Stereo, Cork and Cleaver, GE Telephone, and Sandpoint Greenhouse - which inspired her to pursue horticulture.

At 26 years of age, in 1976, Linda boarded an Amtrak train with her two young sons and nine boxes and headed West, moving to Springfield, Oregon. Oregon became her home for the rest of her 47 years of life. Linda attained her AS from Lane Community College in 1982, and her BS from the University of Oregon in 1985, in Environmental Studies, formerly known as Recreation & Park Management. She minored in Natural Sciences and Botany. Linda raised her sons in a farmhouse in Walterville, Oregon, along the McKenzie River. She worked for Uncommon Scents in Eugene. In 1989, Linda married Pat Elliott and they had a daughter, Bridgett, born in 1990. They raised her together at their home on Fawn Creek along the Siuslaw River in Lorane, Oregon.

Linda had many jobs in Oregon related to her field. She was a founding member of the Emerald Chapter of the Native Plant Society of Oregon in 1979. Linda was an Outdoor Educational Programmer for Willamalane Park and Rec District in Springfield, Oregon, from 1979-1989. She was passionate about her work on Dorris Ranch as a living interpretive site. The field trips and after-school workshops she led are too numerous to count. She was an Educational Coordinator and Board Member for Mt. Pisgah Arboretum in the 1980s and she helped plan their first spring wildflower and fall mushroom shows. She worked for Willamette Science and Technology Center as an earth sciences teacher, as well as for Lane Extension Service, Eugene Park and Rec, and in Central Oregon, as Camp Tamarack's summer camp director from '83-85. She also worked for BLM monitoring different species such as bald-eagles. Linda had a genuine love of the outdoors and a talent for communicating with children. She led hundreds of wildflower walks at Hendricks Bridge, Dorris Ranch and Howard Buford Recreation Area. While at LCC, Linda created an Herbarium collection using several hundred varieties from the Willamette Valley flora, and photographed each species. Later, she was Assistant to the Herbarium Curator at the UO Biology Dept. In subsequent years, Linda served on the Board for Young Writers Association and Nearby Nature in Eugene, Oregon. She also worked for HomeSource and Territorial Seed Company.

In the early 90s, Linda tagged a pair of spotted owls in the old growth forest by her family home on Siuslaw River Road, which saved the area from being logged and designated it a protected site because of the bird's endangered status. The forest still stands today!

Linda had her own outdoor education business for her teaching contracts, Begin with Nature. Then, Fawn Creek Lily Gardens where she grew and sold bouquets of lilies and mixed annuals at the Eugene Farmers Market from 1994-2004. Linda loved growing lilies and giving away bouquets to friends over the years. She shared a close relationship with her daughter, Bridgett.

Linda left her worldly cares behind on June 10, 2024, and found pure peace. Her strong, kind and generous spirit lives on in the beauty of nature and fond memories.

Survivors include her daughter, Bridgett Johnson-Elliott, son, Brian (Jeri) Johnson; sisters Patricia (Dave) Muncie-Stoffer, Beverly Murphy, niece Tina (Mark) Tupper and the Capshaw and Bateman families. Grandchildren Ashley (John) Rendon, Brook (Jordynn) Johnson, Finnegan and Cipriana Johnson (Kelly Ray) and Great-Grandchildren Jordan, Chloe, Serenity, Aubrey and Krew. Cousins Kathy, Barb, Angie, Cindy, Mary Lou, David and Andrea as well as numerous other cousins. And ex-husband, Pat Elliott. Preceded in death are Linda's parents, Mary and Walter Johnson, son, Eric Johnson; nephews Tim Stoffer, Rory Murphy, Adam Murphy; brothers-in law Tim Murphy and Ray Stoffer; numerous cousins, aunts, uncles; and ex-husband, Mike Kocks. Arrangements handled by Andreason's Cremation and Burial Services in June 2024. No memorial was held.

Please plant a lily in Linda's memory and think of her in the spring when the fairy slippers and trilliums bloom in the forest. She surely would have pointed them out to you! "Awake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of living."