Linda Atlas Stahl

Linda Atlas Stahl

Linda Atlas Stahl passed in Seattle on December 9, 2018, one month shy of her 80th birthday.

She packed a lot of living into 79 years. The daughter of a career Army officer, Linda moved each of her first 18 years including a year in Japan where she acquired a love of the culture and food. While stationed in El Paso, TX, her pet spider monkey became known as 'grandma's first grandchild.' She left the U of Oklahoma at 19 to marry and raise her children. Linda returned to school later in life graduating summa cum laude from Seattle University. After moving to Mercer Island in 1970 Linda vowed to never move again, which she accomplished for 40+ years.

Behind the suburban housewife persona lurked an advocate for the downtrodden and marginalized. Having experienced financial hardship, Linda brought humanity to her role in collections for 30 years at the Seattle Times. For many years she took her young children to McNeil Island Penitentiary for Sabbath and social services inside the prison. Linda was an ardent supporter of the LGBTQ community, enjoying Pride events, drag shows, and participating in numerous fund-raising events for AIDS and anti-discrimination organizations. Never able to pass a sale or garage sale she began assembling Christmas packages for men, women, and children in homeless shelters. What began with a few dozen packages assembled at the beginning of December grew over 20+ years to a few thousand packages taking months to assemble.

Linda's other passion was for the arts. She was an ardent collector of works in all medium by local artists and indulged her passion for live theater with season tickets to the 5th Avenue. She sponsored First Date and followed the play to New York for opening night on Broadway. She also shared her love of musicals by hosting movie night for her friends at the Garden Club where Linda was also a 'power hitter' on the beanbag baseball team.

Linda is survived by her husband David; her natural children - Jodi (George), Shawn, and Charlie (Terreasa) ; her adopted children Craig and Saeko, and Jim; her grandchildren - Zachary, Stewart, Alex, Brendan, Elliott, and Andrew; her brother Roger; sister Nancy; and countless Red Robin and Applebee's waitstaff and Starbucks baristas.

She requested no funeral or memorial other than for each person to take their own moment of reflection on their time with her.