Linda Mayer Pearce

1943 - 2020

Mayer Pearce, Linda
Feb 6, 1943 - Aug 26, 2020
Linda Mayer Pearce, 77, of Sarasota died peacefully at home on Aug. 26, 2020.
Kind, generous and smart, Linda loved machine quilting, reading, telling stories and traveling the world. She was a social butterfly who was involved with many clubs and had many friends. She was an accomplished student who valued education throughout her life. She loved to learn new things.
Most of all, though, she loved God and her family. Her family loved her beyond words and will miss her dearly.
The daughter of German immigrant William John Mayer and Ohio born Thelma Evangeline Mayer, Linda was born in Lexington, Ky. on Feb. 6, 1943 and grew up in Louisville, where she attended Waggener High School. She had fond memories of her childhood, including living directly across the street from Waggener and the many activities at Our Savior Lutheran Church.
Linda went on to attend Wellesley College, where she earned a bachelor's degree in economics in 1964.
She moved back to Louisville after college and was working for Commonwealth Life Insurance Company when she met her future husband, George "Nick" Pearce. She transferred from the actuarial department to the computer department where Nick was a programmer analyst. They were married on October 22, 1966 in Louisville.
Nick and Linda started their family in Louisville, where their son William and daughter Amelia were born. They also had a daughter, Susan Marie, who died in infancy. They belonged to and were very active in the Second Presbyterian Church. While in Louisville, Linda worked as a programmer analyst for Brown & Williamson Tobacco and was on the retail information systems development team for Sears Roebuck.
The family moved to Sarasota in 1982, where Linda worked for 25 years in information systems management and related fiscal department activities at the Sarasota County Health Department. In retirement, Linda owned and managed several rental homes and was instrumental in gaining grants for and operating the Truvine project, a series of sex education classes for minority teenagers in the Newtown area churches and the YMCA.
Linda always planned to seek advanced degrees and do more with the amazing education she received at Wellesley. She hoped to spread her wings professionally, but decided it was more important to sacrifice and concentrate on her family. In return, she saw her children accomplish great things and was enormously proud.
Linda devoted herself to her family and was deeply involved in the Sarasota community.
A member of Siesta Key Chapel, she had numerous roles in the Presbyterian church, including Elder positions of Clerk of Session and Nominating, treasurer and circle chair of Presbyterian Women and usher.
Linda also was treasurer of the Cherokee Park Homeowners Association, president of the Suncoast British Car Club, president of the Friendship Knot Quilters Guild, treasurer of the Wellesley Club of Sarasota, active in the Junior League in both Sarasota and Louisville and a member of Sara Bay Country Club. She was an avid mahjong player and reader who belonged to three book clubs, and she enjoyed the vast amenities of Sarasota with good friends.
Linda cherished family and friends most of all, from her cousins and old friends from Kentucky to the friends and family who surrounded her in Sarasota. She kept in touch with family from her father's hometown of Augsburg Germany, and many came to visit her in Sarasota.
Over the last decade Linda's role as "nana" to her three grandchildren gave her great joy. She made them quilts and made dresses for her two granddaughters. She babysat the girls every week and bribed them with makeup and perfume to help with potty training. Her time with Evangeline, Isabel and Grant was too short, but she made the most of it.
Linda's absence can never be filled. She was the family glue, hosting holiday dinners and keeping in touch with everyone, no matter how far flung. She was a rock who could always be relied on for support and good advice. She was a gifted conversationalist who loved telling family stories and was never at a loss for words. She was unfailingly kind and loyal and always tried to lift people up. Her greatest desire was to love and be loved, and that was fulfilled many times over.
Linda was preceded in death by her father William J Mayer, her mother Thelma Renner Mayer, her sister Susan Melissa Mayer who passed prematurely early and her infant daughter Marie who also passed prematurely. She is survived by her husband George "Nick" Pearce, daughter Dr. Amelia Anderson (Zachary) and their daughters Evangeline and Isabel of Sarasota, and by her son William G. Pearce of Vienna, Virginia and his son Grant Pearce of Englewood Florida.
A formal celebration of Linda's life and memorial service with scattering of ashes in the Memorial Garden will be held at Siesta Key Chapel at a later date. Arrangements are being handled by Toale Brothers Funeral Home & Crematory, 40 North Orange Avenue, Sarasota, 34236.
Memorials may be made to Tidewell Hospice or Siesta Key Chapel.